Reviews by SJMJ91

Over the years, the found-footage genre has consisted of horror films involving mostly monsters and demons with severe consequences, but Chronicle is something that takes you somewhere different to what we’ve seen before from the genre. It adds hilarious laughs and the troublesome behaviour of teenagers but also the vintage style of violence and horror as part of found-footage films. Understandably, the genre itself and the style of filming really aren’t to everyone’s taste it usually takes a lot for them to be successfully executed in order to feel the reality that they attempt to bring forth. Having said this, Chronicle really is a film that brings off a good start to 2012 and is both hilarious and terrifying to watch.


Unusually, many people misunderstand Chronicle for a superhero film because of the superpower references but as you watch it, it really is not one at all! For starters, none of the characters are super.. heroes, there’s no primary hero or villain as traditionally shown within the sub-genre and it’s more of a sci-fi drama than sci-fi action. Chronicle initially defines the fun and adventurous side of gaining superpowers and consists of regular laugh-out-loud gags and jokes. However, at the same time it shows the severe deadly and violent consequences caused due to superpowers. So, the use of terror and violence is the frequent style used within found-footage films and although, it is added with teenage humour, it’s still successfully prevails.


A lot like the teenage trio in Kick-Ass, we are introduced to a new group of young actors, who are swept from their ordinary teenage lives at school into a world where their unorthodox fantasies become true. Dane DeHaan takes the leading role as Andrew Detmer. Andrew’s life is at breaking point as his mother is slowly dying from a cancer but his father is an alcoholic and regularly beats him. So, due to these circumstances, the telekinetic powers and the use of the camera, DeHaan provides a powerful performance as he adds both a nerdy nature, similar to Jesse Eisenberg, and a psychologically warped teenager. Australian actor Alex Russell delivers another great performance in his role as Andrew’s cousin, Matt. He’s perhaps the most sensible and perhaps known as the “good-guy” of the group, who is similar to Peter Parker.


Last but not least is the third youngster, Michael B. Jordan who gives a breakthrough performance as Steve Montgomery. Steve isn’t only the wackiest character of the three but he’s undoubtedly the funniest. However, perhaps the most vital character in the film that has a huge impact upon the film as a whole that isn’t really considered much. That character is the video camera itself that is being used. Just like most found-footage films, it’s unfortunate that even the camera is being pulled into the story, and Chronicle occasionally caused anxiety and tension for the camera.


So, with this in mind, it raises these questions – “why does filming continue? And how does the camera survive throughout circumstantial events?” The purpose of found-footage films is to add the reality of horror and science fiction to the screen in a format that we usually use in everyday life. This can become a vital miss for films made in this style, but although Chronicle does still suffer from lack of reality; there’s something very different from it. Director and co-creator of Chronicle, Josh Trank makes his feature film debut after previously making some episodes from The Kill Point. Trank still adds the vintage horror of found-footage but for the first time, there’s an unorthodox charm to Chronicle that’s not only scary, intense and funny to watch, but is actually fun and exciting! Alongside Trank, screenwriter and other co-creator Max Landis pens the script and, like the direction, revolutionizes charm into found-footage genre for the first time with the highly intense scenes and the emotional chemistry between the characters.


Overall, Chronicle is a breakthrough in the found-footage genre that is highly recommended as a film for pure entertainment. There are many out there who aren’t entirely bound to the style of filming Chronicle has, but it ironically works very well. It provides aspects that prove found-footage films can become heaps of fun! If Chronicle is equivalent to anything, it’s riding an exhilarating rollercoaster ride.

Within approximately 11 years since that horrifying day in New York on 11th September 2001, there has been a whole new born legacy of stories (both fictional and real) that have been adapted onto the big screen. Following 2006 hits United 93 and World Trade Center that were based on true stories, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close became the first Hollywood film that links the real attacks with a fictional second story and characters. So, with this in mind, there was quite a lot to expect from this film on equal fronts. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close undoubtedly illustrates the horror of 9/11 and the heartbreak caused, but regarding the key-quest story, it came across as rather flat that doesn’t really get anywhere.


The dialogue of Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close is split into two separate stories that intend to connect together but, quite frankly, it was almost completely mishandled. It’s adapting a horrifying and controversial event featuring fictional characters, in slight reference to James Cameron’s Titanic, to create an inner fictional story that doesn’t really lead us anywhere nor serve any primary purpose. Despite the key-quest story wasn’t the best, the fictional Schell family were vital roles as it illustrates the emotional heartbreak that 9/11 bestowed on the victims and their loved ones. It shows some vital characteristics of 9/11 that hadn’t been put to the screen, which is where in particularly aspect that the film could lead its audience to a tear or two.


Throughout pretty much every Tom Hanks film, it’s just always about him and his character. However, this time in Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, he is credited as a leading role but he portrays a more supporting character. Nevertheless, he portrays 9/11 victim Thomas Schell marvellously. He illustrates not only the loving father and husband in the film that adds more drama, but also the emotional torture and pain whilst in the World Trade Center building. Alongside Hanks is Oscar winning actress Sandra Bullock as wife of Thomas and mother of Oskar, Linda Schell. Being an actress you either love or hate, Bullock provides a very tender yet rather cold nature to Linda, especially when it comes to the relationship with her son. So, Bullock’s performance was decent enough to watch.


Child star Thomas Horn makes his on-screen feature debut as young Oskar Schell with quite possibly one of the best child performances that you’ll ever experience. As well as the references of 9/11 itself and the aftermath, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close teaches some valuable lessons about autism and Asperger’s Syndrome from Horn’s performance. He brings forth the reality, the mental stabilities and symptoms of autism like Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? where he became not only the main character in the film, but the most dominant actor alongside Max Von Sydow! Von Sydow got a well-deserved Academy Award nomination where he proves without saying a single word in the film that actions speak louder than words, identical to a few Oscar winning and nominated performances in the past. Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright and Zoe Caldwell make appearances and deliver satisfying performances in their respective roles.


Stephen Daldry warmed our hearts with his directorial debut of Billy Elliot but then progressed to make Oscar nominated dramas - The Hours and The Reader. Nevertheless, here we are with Daldry’s latest drama, where he doesn’t do so much better than his previous two films. He tends to make these dramas and lacks the emotional connection between the key-quest and 9/11 story. Daldry can do better than this, but he can do a lot worse! Eric Roth, the screenwriter of most notably Forrest Gump and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, penned the screenplay from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. This is a typical film for Eli Roth to write a script because it’s embarking on a journey and observes life from another group of people. Plus, it’s the on-going narration and the crucial reference of the swing in central New York, identical to the feather in Forrest Gump. However, it’s not one of the best scripts he has written at all but like Daldry, he can so much worse!


Overall, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close is both a huge disappointment but a very emotional and heartfelt film to watch. As previously illustrated, it’s flat in terms of story with the quest about the key. However, at the same time, the 9/11 scenarios with losing a father/husband makes it a heart-breaking tragedy, which still makes it an emotional experience. So, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close is the one film that has its strong features which prevented it from becoming even worse, but also has its severe blows where it could have been so much better.

Following the epic conclusion in Harry Potter franchise last summer and being Daniel Radcliffe’s first leading role since finishing what made him a young star, The Woman In Black was already going to very quickly gain a wide capacity of viewers! Plus, because the film is part of a genre that’s different for Dan and many out there at his age love the horror genre, expectations were high. Unfortunately, Dan will always be recognised as Harry Potter but despite that, he manages to pull off a very different performance in a very haunting and intense film that will undoubtedly leave you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.


The identical similarities from other films that The Woman In Black bestows are the vintage eerie and dark backgrounds as part of not only the horror genre, but set within the Edwardian and Victorian eras. These concepts are where The Woman In Black is partially linked with references from 1922 silent horror Nosferatu and particularly Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. Plus, The Woman In Black provides characteristics about the true nature of horror and suspense that we rarely see in this current generation. This basically means that the film focuses more on the on-going suspense and slow anticipation that’ll shake the audience rather than using the other “scary” technique: firing tons of blood and guts on the screen.


Having never fully blown us away out of all eight films as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe became an almost entirely different actor in The Woman In Black! His performance was very impressive as Arthur Kipps, sold the suspenseful scenes and has transformed from boy into man. However, there was a sense of innocence about him that will most likely always be there. He perhaps looked a bit too young for such a mature character especially when the majority of his fellow supporting actors are middle-aged. Dan’s performance provides a rare but unique difference between appearing as a character and performing as a character. What’s meant by this is that considering 21 year old Dan still looks very young for a character who sounds more in his 30s; he adds the suspenseful and terrifying aspects that mix the innocence of victims and the psychologically ruthless terror of ghosts and demons.


As far as supporting cast are concerned, Misha Handley, Radcliffe’s real-life godson, portrays his on-screen son, Joseph Kipps. We don’t see much of Handley in the film, but when we do, he is your typical innocent and cute little child who’s just stuck in a horror film. Ciarán Hinds who portrayed Aberforth Dumbledore in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part II had briefly worked with Daniel Radcliffe before. Admittedly, a lawyer who looks like a teenager and a middle-aged man in solving a mystery may be the most unorthodox relationship in a film, but because Dan’s portrayal was splendid and Hinds’ character Sam Daily was almost like an elder brother and close friend figure, they connected well together. Academy Award nominee Janet McTeer’s portrayal of Elizabeth Daily was brilliant and Liz White’s mild but crucial appearance made The Woman In Black an even more terrifying experience.


James Watkins makes only his second film in his career after 2008 horror hit Eden Lake, but has been a producer of other horrors and thrillers - My Little Eye, Gone and The Descent: Part 2. With the experiences of horror films under his belt, Watkins makes a film that provides the true meaning of horror and suspense which we don’t see very often anymore. Particularly the scenes within the large mansion, we are literally entered into this ghostly world that keeps a firm hold on us! He even makes various artefacts in houses scary to even look at in the film, such as the rocking chair and the bed. So, making objects scary is odd but it is saying something! Screenwriter Jane Goldman has spent her career writing with mostly Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, The Debt and Stardust), but now she writes a script alone for the first time. Having served as a great screenwriting partner for Vaughn, she proves that she can write her own scripts too.


Overall, The Woman In Black is an intense, nail-biting ride that provides all what it is meant to: terrify its audiences and make them jump! Daniel Radcliffe suited the horror genre and was very good, but to avoid not always been referred to as Harry Potter, he’ll have to collaborate with an even stronger director, a more creative script and more solid character. Many horrors are displayed as something that’s disturbing enough to lead to nightmares but regarding The Woman In Black, it’s a film that one can enjoy because it’s scary to watch!

Following past experiences from previous hits Taken and Unknown, we should have all gathered by now that any action-thriller involving Liam Neeson will be pure popcorn entertainment. Expectations were high for The Grey as it’s perhaps the first blockbuster of 2012 and now after seeing it, it’s important to know that it is not your typical action film that has been shown repeatedly in the past. It is more along the lines of a heart-racing thriller with many unexpected turns just around the corner. So having said this and that the plot is quite basic, it brings out something what you wouldn’t really expect: a horrifying but genuinely heartfelt story that’ll toy with your emotions.


The Grey is honestly a film that can quite easily be misunderstood for a horror film purely for the reasons that it involves wolves attacking and killing a group of men in central wooden territories of Alaska. However, it surprisingly expresses various aspects of life including friendships, the frequent ugly chemistry between man and beast and the teachings about fate and destiny. It also somehow transforms itself into a psychological-thriller as it involves many scenes of emotional damage due to their situation, witnessing the horrifying attacks from the wolves and the stakes due to make in order to survive.


Seriously, who would’ve thought at almost 60 years old that Liam Neeson can still pull off this badass tone that we have seen so greatly from him over the years? Bradley Cooper was the original choice for the role of Ottway, but seeing Neeson in this role proves that Cooper would’ve been a total miscast. Just like the entire film as a whole, Ottway’s character and Neeson’s performance as said character is something slightly different this time in comparison to other films in the past. We’re used to seeing an explosive and exhilarating Neeson but he is a character that doesn’t deliver so much action, but is full of emotion and bravery and is genuinely the leader of the group. So, these characteristics already make him a very likeable character.


Alongside Neeson is a supporting cast of all-male actors who haven’t made their presence known in the world of Hollywood (apart from James Badge Dale), but here is a group of actors who solidly collaborated together and gave impressive performances. In addition to the actors, we are introduced to the pack of wolves that howl for the blood of these men. Although there were one or two scenes involving real wolves, the use of CGI for these creatures was breath-taking but at the same time, it was pretty typical. These wolves aren’t just blood-lusting, vicious creatures that attack at the most unexpected times but they also provide some character during particularly scenes of confrontation leading to the occasional withdrawn attack and the eerie connection between them and the men.


Joe Carnahan, the director of Smokin’ Aces and The A-Team (which ironically stars Liam Neeson in the leading role) takes charge as director of The Grey and what a great job he does! He manages to create an atmosphere that is intense and nail-biting from start to finish but also with its depressing features. However, the one minor cliché that The Grey suffers from is that it does consist of some overlong scenes. Carnahan co-writes the script with Ian MacKenzie Jeffers whose short story The Grey is based on. They write it together very creatively that jumbles an unorthodox mixture of depression and fright. It’s quite interesting to learn that Ridley Scott was a co-producer of The Grey too.


Overall, The Grey is a dark adventure-drama that takes you along a very emotional but intense ride and teaches us some unexpected lessons about various aspects of life. Surprisingly, it is not the horror film that many have speculated it to be but it’ll still undoubtedly keep you off the edge of your seat from start to finish. 2012 has gone off to a great start and has become the first motion picture of the year that’s pure popcorn entertainment.

Okay, so The Help is in many ways like The Descendants (one of its award adversaries of 2011) where it can be easily identified as another Oscar buzz, so to speak, due to the repetitive theme of the dialogue but nevertheless meaningful nature and its colourful and easy-going backgrounds. However, there are quite a number of hit and miss aspects that reside within The Help where certain techniques saved it, but in others made it an overrated disappointment. So, on the positive side of things, The Help manages to be a 50% success due to the absolutely outstanding acting from its ensemble cast (particularly Davis and Spencer), but the other 50% suffers from its rather severe flaws.


When observing racism as a theme of cinema, there’s quite a wide range of stories to put together about it particularly involving violence, slavery, politics and fighting for equal rights. In The Help’s case, it adds all four of those examples but where it really suffers is that it’s needlessly over-long in its running time where it gradually got very boring got us almost completely lost. Plus, consisting of the depressing theme and the emotional characters, The Help was too colourful and looked rather light-hearted when there is almost nothing friendly, lively nor funny about this film at all. So, in that sense, that’s where it went a bit wrong and should have been darker in tone to match with the subject represented.


Tate Taylor takes the role of both director and screenwriter of this adaptation from the novel by close friend, Kathryn Stockett. With not many films under his belt, The Help became his most vital film to date but unfortunately, the film wasn’t as impressive to watch as expected. It is filmed in a similar documentary style seeing as it analyses the thought-provoking tension regarding racism that we regularly see in everyday life. Taylor’s script of The Help has its ups and downs. The segments involving the narrations were pretty good, but as already stated, it goes overboard with repetitive scenes that just continues and doesn’t always get anywhere.


Despite the film does have its hard-hitting flaws, the performances from the ensemble cast (pretty much all female) are all absolutely outstanding! After her mesmerizing performances in most recent years, Emma Stone gives another grand performance in her role as Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. Stone has frequently been seen as portraying drop-dead gorgeous and darkly sexy characters, but we see a nerdy and more emotional side to her. Viola Davis immediately received critical acclaim for her role as Aibileen Clark and now after seeing it, no wonder! Davis expresses a depressed and emotionally broken-down woman by showing a lot of vulnerability, anger and pain, but also honour and loyalty which showed her nice and sensitive side. So, by this jumble of different emotional aspects portraying a character, she does deserve the credit she gets, including a well-deserved Academy Award nomination. In addition to Viola’s outstanding role, Octavia Spencer gives an even stronger performance as Minny Jackson, who renovates the humour, emotional concepts and physical features of Hattie McDaniel in her Oscar winning performance as Mammy in Gone With The Wind. Spencer is all but guaranteed to receive the 84th Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress! Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain and Allison make fine appearances in the film too with good performances.


Overall, The Help is something that goes out of hand and is totally misused in many ways due to the backgrounds within the story and the needlessly continuous story. It is perhaps the most overrated film of 2011 but the performances from the actors (especially Davis and Spencer) make this film suitable enough to call a film worthy of a few Oscars. So, apart from the occasionally empty story, The Help is perhaps still worth seeing purely for the acting.

With perhaps the most successful actor turned director behind the camera and featuring one of the most popular actors in this current era, there seemed like there was nothing that was going to stop this becoming a huge success! Despite that there are various references that the film consists of that is beyond anything than Eastwood or DiCaprio have been part of, expectations were still high. Plus, with the bad luck that they’ve mutually shared in most recent years, they both needed to be at the best of their game to become strong Oscar contenders. So, having said this, unfortunately J. Edgar became a rather big disappointment that could have been so much better but it still had its one or two qualities.


The most crucial features within J. Edgar where it suffers the most is that it really did not serve a thought-provoking meaning or message that enables the audience to stick with and to really think about. In most of the scenes, it just fell flat and there wasn’t all that much chemistry between the characters, especially between Hoover and Tolson. It really could have been as solid emotionally and politically as Milk by Gus Van Sant back in 2008 but the majority of the time, the film wasn’t really getting anywhere and became something that was rather lost at what it was trying to tell to its audience. Technically, the film looked good especially with the impressive make-up used for the characters in the most recent time settings and should have gained an Academy Award nomination in that category.


Considering that Leonardo DiCaprio generally looks exactly the same appearance-wise throughout most of the films that he has been involved in and has delivered some fantastic performances over the years, DiCaprio was still decent enough to endure on the screen but this is definitely not one of the best of his career. He lacked that inspirational and emotionally confused tone to J. Edgar’s character that made him a very crucial part in American history with his personal life as a closeted homosexual. Plus, the number of DiCaprio’s different pronunciations varied and became an almost complete jumble of American accents, so that became a severe blow to the character too. To be honest, DiCaprio could have pulled it off exquisitely like Sean Penn did in his Oscar-winning performance as Harvey Milk and given him a long-overdue Academy Award but quite frankly, DiCaprio’s Edgar just felt empty, shallow and completely soulless from start to finish.


Although it was never officially confirmed but having had its certain suspicions, the possible homosexual relationship between Hoover and his protégé Clyde Tolson perhaps was not focused or deeply analysed often enough. In fact, without reading about Hoover and Tolson themselves and by watching the film, you wouldn’t be able to identify that there was the possible forbidden love between them (apart from the one unexpected kiss). After his performance as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network by David Fincher, Armie Hammer’s performance was, like DiCaprio, satisfactory but wasn’t realistic enough to feel emotionally attached to. It may be a rather difficult task for two male actors or two female actresses who are real-life heterosexuals to form a strong homosexual relationship on-screen, but both Tolson and DiCaprio acted like they didn’t want to be part of this film. Naomi Watts may be an underrated actress as it is and may have been under-used again in J. Edgar but in all honesty, her character was virtually completely pointless and served almost no key part in the film at all. Judi Dench makes an appearance too as Hoover’s mother and provided a typical tender mother nature but also her occasional dark side too, especially regarding homosexuality.


Most recently being the director of a biographical drama about Nelson Mandella and the Rugby World Cup and then a supernatural-fantasy drama, veteran actor and director Clint Eastwood unfortunately never received any top-spot awards for his work. Shamefully, J. Edgar really isn’t the best that Clint or any of the actors within the film can do, so it is quite possibly Clint’s worst film as director to date. He really missed the point with this one and achieved neither the ruthless and power-hungry governmental figure of the FBI led by J. Edgar Hoover nor about Hoover himself personally as a lonesome and depressed homosexual. He also perhaps sinks as low to how Oliver Stone has turned out now after how great he was before! Having already written the script for Milk, Dustin Lance Black pens J. Edgar in his second film linked with homosexuality and politics and like Clint and the rest of the cast, it is another aspect where it could have been so much better!


Overall, J. Edgar is perhaps the most disappointing film that you’ll see in 2011 with shockingly flat and rather rushed direction from Clint Eastwood, an over-long and rather dry script from Dustin Lance Black but still with the occasionally good performances from the cast. If you’re a fan of both Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio, you’ll most likely be disappointed with this as it is almost completely turned into something than it should have been. So, pretty much everyone involved in this film will really need to make up for this one in the future.

Considering that there was a rather unorthodox and unique idea behind it with a black and white silent film set in the 1920s being released in 2011, The Artist still provided us with the thought that it could become something that’ll renovate the birth of cinema, so to speak. With this in mind and having said that it is surrounded by all these colourful Hollywood dramas, action and science fiction films that we see in this generation, everything about The Artist literally swept away not only every film released in 2011 but the majority of the films released over the past decade! It has it all: it’s charming to watch with strong bonds between the characters, it is very emotional, it was surprisingly very funny with a lot of brilliant jokes and most of all: it manages to successfully capture the reality of the time setting.


To be able to pull off a successful silent film in this generation is a very difficult task considering that we are now piled with films with extremely high budgets featuring various aspects such as overloading visual effects, action films and the re-birth of 3D. So, having said this, there would need to be a solid enough story for it to work. Quite frankly, for it to perhaps reboot the older world of cinema it had to be a movie about movies otherwise if it’s part of any other particular theme of film story-wise, it wouldn’t really be something that hadn’t been repeated time and time again. Unlike many films in most recent years, The Artist consists of many breakthrough scenes that are somewhat referenced to Citizen Kane by Orson Welles and will undoubtedly become landmark scenes in many years to come.


French actor Jean Dujardin portrays English ‘speaking’ actor George Valentin and gives quite possibly one of the best performances in a very long time! Dujardin’s approach to the character very closely resembles both Clark Gable’s masterful performance as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind back in 1939 and Gene Kelly’s witty and delightful role as Don Lockwood in classic 1952 musical Singin’ In The Rain due to their mutually charming nature particularly towards the opposing gender. In addition to the mesmerizing attributes, Dujardin bought forth a lot of witty comedy that not only had similarity with Gene Kelly, but also with the legendary Charlie Chaplin in his films. Dujardin rightfully deserves the Academy Award for Best Leading Actor for renovating the silent style of acting and defining its true meaning so exquisitely. Alongside Dujardin comes another breakthrough performance from French actress Bérénice Bejo who brings forth a Marilyn Monroe-like character Peppy Miller with a naturally young and sexy nature, so to speak, who adds passion and pure enjoyment to the story. The bond that Valentin and Miller have is beyond any other romantic connection between a male and female protagonist seeing as there’s a very low supply of passionate kissing or intimate sexual contact. So, there’s an immediate bond between them and proves that emotional bonds are the most important aspect within relationships. Dujardin and Bejo together introduce a brand new message about acting that action really does speak louder than words.


In the supporting cast are various American and British actors featuring the likes of James Cromwell as Valentin’s valet, John Goodman as Al Zimmer – head of Kinograph Studios who Valentin regularly worked with in his silent projects, Penelope Ann Miller as Valentin’s wife and a cameo appearance from A Clockwork Orange actor Malcolm McDowell in a role simply known as “The Butler”. Another piece of treasure in the ensemble cast is to Uggie as Jack, who’s a trained Jack Russell Terrier who has appeared in various projects over the years (most recently in Water For Elephants). Hats go off to this dog who adds a lot of witty comedy to the film alongside Jean Dujardin and also a sense of innocence that’ll guarantee to gain the film a wider audience despite its occasionally unappealing style of film to many others out there. Uggie’s “performance” brings forth that emotionally realistic role that we saw so amazingly from Joey in War Horse!


With the majority being French behind all of the production aspects, they could not have accomplished a more accurate setting with the world of American Hollywood and restored the category of silent films so amazingly! In addition to the traditional 1.33:1 ratio of filming that was used during the silent era, the use of classical music composed by Ludovic Bource adds more liveliness and enchantment to the film as it tells the story alongside the actions from characters directed magnificently by Michel Hazanavicius. Hazanavicius provides numerous styles of direction during The Artist that feature upbeat and rather passionate forms including dancing and acting from the films within The Artist, the use of the background settings and directing Uggie but more depressingly, the personal psychological pain presented. His script was absolutely magnificent as well and became another characteristic expressed that provides the fact that films are really about actions rather than words.


Overall, The Artist is truly a masterpiece for the ages that will leave you speechless in every single way! It’s not only a love story between a man and a woman but it’s also and most importantly a love story about motion pictures. You could literally name many classic films (both silent and sound) where The Artist can in one way or another numerously be compared to. It’s a miraculous achievement in French cinema and tributes the works from filmmakers part of the silent era that include Charlie Chaplin, Georges Méliès, Howard Hawks and perhaps to Mel Brooks too for his work in the 1976 silent satirical comedy Silent Movie. The upcoming 84th Academy Awards and the majority of the awards presented would deservedly belong to The Artist due to the impact it has had in the world of cinema.

Carnage already had almost instantly become an immediate attraction to all audiences due to its sophisticating ensemble cast who have delivered some of the best performances in various films over the past 20 years, and of course, an iconic director behind it all who makes an altered change in comparison to his other films as he makes something entirely different after being best known for crime-mysteries, horror and dramas throughout his career. So, with all these beneficial aspects behind it and having not much valuable experience with the comedy genre, Carnage is truly a hilarious but extremely underrated black-comedy that very closely resembles the comical ingenious qualities of situation-comedy television shows.


Due to the very short duration of the film, that it is set in one entire day and is in pretty much one particular location and the numerous sparks between the characters, the aspects within the genre of situation-comedies really begin to kick in with Carnage. These aspects particular include the fact that although they go in and still try to get out of the situation that they are in with some good news or some kind of positive outcome, there is literally nothing within the film that can be done civilly without pure hell breaking loose. Plus, including the laughs and the disasters that occur within Carnage, hidden secrets begin to unveil about each of the characters that slowly begin to reflect their true nature and leads to questions.


The added spice to the film is the ensemble cast that features three out of four Academy Award winning actors. Firstly, Jodie Foster is perhaps the leading and most vital character from the quadruple as she is the passive-aggressive wife and mother. Foster goes into two whole new depths whilst portraying Penelope as she goes from this emotionally confused and worrying mother to a rather psychologically deranged woman with some anger and mentality issues. Secondly, any film starring Kate Winslet (especially alongside a well-known and famous director), you’d always expect her to give a grand performance and gladly she achieves this once again. Kate has mostly been part of emotional dramas throughout her career thus far but there is a wildly funny side to her that has been born and would crave to see her continue to do in the future. Both Foster and Winslet rightfully deserved their Golden Globe nominations but perhaps should have gained even more fame for their performances in Carnage.


Ever since his Academy Award winning role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Christoph Waltz is really becoming a new Hollywood star as he collaborates with another notable director in a role that is different but somewhat familiar to what we have seen him be most famous for in the past. What is meant by this is that although Waltz’s character Alan in Carnage, he is still quite the dark, manipulative guy but is still very funny and brings forth such strong chemistry with on-screen wife Kate. Now, last but not least, Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly is perhaps the most sophisticated one of the four regarding the comedy genre and he delivers a grand performance in the film as well that fulfils the complete package of successful acting from an ensemble cast.


From the likes of his greatest films throughout his 50+ year career such as Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Tess, The Ninth Gate, The Pianist and most recently The Ghost Writer in 2010, Roman Polanski alters from his vintage genres of horror, thriller and drama to something that we hadn’t seen frequently from him: black comedy. Polanski’s work in Carnage identically resembles what Mike Nichols bought forth in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? back in 1966 with the extremely argumentative attitudes between the characters, the time settings with them mutually being set in a single day and most importantly, a somewhat related style of humour. Polanski collaborates with the original writer of the play – Yasmina Reza to write the script and together they write it absolutely brilliantly, which is another strong aspect within the film that has been snubbed by the various award organisations.


Overall, Carnage is a film that is beyond anything than what you’d expect and how it looks. You’d really expect some kind of normal suburban drama with one or two slight laughs in store but when you watch it, the laughs simply do not stop until the film ends. It is a fine jumble of suburban drama, disaster/slapstick comedy and situation-comedy, so if you’re a fan of any one of these, then Carnage and everything that it consists of, is a solid recommendation for you that you’d find incredibly fun and that you’d laugh until it hurts. Polanski and the ensemble cast make this a special treat that is definitely one of the funniest black-comedies you’ll and replies to some unanswered and unrecognisable forbidden characteristics of human nature and both their individual and social behaviour.

As you will very easily recognise from the theatrical trailer as well when watching the feature film itself, The Descendants really is your typical Hollywood bait as it consists of heart-breaking and thought-provoking emotion, personal connections between characters, some light-hearted humour and the wide variety of shots featuring beautiful landscapes. Plus, the fact that it stars a Hollywood gem - George Clooney, and both directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, who has made his first major project since 2004 comedy-drama Sideways. So, as a result of these, expectations were high and after watching it, The Descendants turned out a genuinely heartfelt film, not only about family and love but also loosely about revenge and justice that could lead you to tears.


The Descendants involves various beautiful landscape shots of Hawaii and as well as having its very emotional story, it makes it look a divine charm that adds lots of natural beauty and innocence to it. Plus, there are some moments that do consist of some humourous moments that’ll make you laugh. However, despite having its dazzling and friendly aspects, it does have its occasional dark tones too such as tremendous amounts of stress between the characters and also some suspenseful segments especially when on the search for Speer and having almost no idea how Matt is going to approach the situation and what he is going to say. It is in no way classed as a thriller, but having mixed emotion, beauty and tension into one and still managing to have its very tender and heart-breaking message, we are bought with something very special which is what we have with The Descendants.


After his tremendous work in comedy-drama Sideways and having that on his shoulders, Alexander Payne returns to another Oscar buzzing comedy-drama that has almost all particular emotional aspects with its light and dark tones and balances it all absolutely brilliantly! This guy really knows how to make people laugh, how to take his audiences on adventures, make them feel attached to what’s going on and to the characters and to these dark characteristics to them that we haven’t fully seen of him just yet and should like to see in the near future. Due to his fabulous directing ability, he doesn’t write the screenplays for his films alone. He has mostly collaborated with Jim Taylor, but The Descendants became the first film without Taylor as he works alongside Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Together, the trio write a script that is easily worthy of winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.


See, here’s the thing about George Clooney: in every film you’d see that he’s in, you’d always just expect him to just be George Clooney due to his frequent ladies-man and charming performances that we have seen from him over the years that has set his status as a Hollywood symbol. After his most recent Oscar nominated performances in 2009’s Up In The Air and 2007’s Michael Clayton, he goes somewhere totally different this time as we see a rather strong, angry and yet a rather vulnerable and emotionally-confused Clooney. His role is genuinely effective towards the audience as we are literally standing in his shoes by going down his road of emotional suffering but also his other path of revenge. So, Clooney definitely gives one of his greatest performances of his career and whatever he’ll be in the future will be difficult to beat this one.


Alongside Clooney comes along a trio of young newcomers who have suddenly risen to fame in The Descendants. Firstly, there’s 20 year old Shailene Woodley who gave an absolutely amazing performance as Alex. Her performance expressed the emotionally broken aspects of a young girl growing out of being a cute, innocent child into becoming a beautiful, sexy woman. Plus, there was something occasionally sadistic and rebellious about Alex as she desires to find the man who had an affair with her mother behind her father’s back and wants him to suffer for what he had done. Woodley was literally robbed of an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress but there is no denying that her role is still another truly fantastic young actor/actress performance to remember. Secondly, Amara Miller makes her feature film debut as Scottie King who is someone that you’d generally call a problem child and in some ways resembles Chloe Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass. Nick Krause also makes his presence known as Alex’s at-first arrogant but later on nice “friend” Sid in his satisfying and rather pleasant role.


Overall, The Descendants is a very tender and genuine story mixing the natural beauty of Hawaii and relationships between families that leaves the all-important message: to always stand as a family in order to go through any crucial changes that occur in natural every-day life. This rightfully deserves all the Oscar fame that it has received and could walk away with a various number of awards upcoming. It is very important to know that The Descendants really isn’t for the faint-hearted and will take you on an emotional journey that is bound to make one cry and will leave you jaw-dropped as the ending credits roll.

Shame had begun and gone through a process with a rather easy and short combination of a low budget at only £4.2 million, a very short duration during the shooting of the film that lasted up to 25 days and receiving a low box office taking - approximately $9 million. The film earned its well-deserved positive critical acclaim despite it’s overly explicit sexual content that sealed it with an NC-17 rating in the US. Furthermore, considering that there are films which either receive an NC-17 rating or anything mostly consisting of sex can be completely misunderstood for something involving pornography, Steve McQueen brings forth a film with a slight Stanley Kubrick and Bernardo Bertolucci-like style to it that makes it a very gripping and magnificently filmed accomplishment with a very that leaves a very interesting but thought-provoking message.


Considering that the plot and the background passions that Brandon has and can occasionally become a bit awkward whilst watching the film, Shame expresses that mesmerising feeling of pure beauty behind it. It provides a whole new meaning to sex that we hadn’t really thought about before: the act as a whole is quite possibly the most passionate and pleasurable feeling one could ever endure but at the same time, this passion and pleasure could turn into something rather dangerous and become the biggest trap of all! Shame is one of those films that you’d watch where the story almost has absolutely nothing to do, therefore you cannot predict what is going to happen. So, what we have with Shame in that sense is that there are a few unexpected twists and turns around the corner.


Michael Fassbender has already broken through the layers of blockbuster triumphs and collaboration with famous directors after appearing in a vital role in Quentin Tarantino’s war film Inglourious Basterds and then progressed to renovate the role of Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto as a young man in X-Men: First Class. So, now with two different cinematic experiences on his shoulders, Fassbender goes on to portray yet another extraordinary role that hasn’t really been bought forth previously as we embark on his unorthodox adventures following his sexual passions and fantasies. Fassbender provides almost everything that you could ask for as we understand Brandon’s struggles that not only become deeply emotional but also rather horrifying at the same time. His performance is without a doubt one of the most powerful roles of 2011 and it will be very difficult for him to be able to pull off a stronger and more thought-provoking performance in the future than what he gave us here.


Alongside Michael Fassbender is the young and incredibly beautiful Carey Mulligan as Brandon’s sister. Mulligan has been recognised just like Ryan Gosling throughout 2011: delivered absolutely outstanding performances where she has been a strong and favoured Oscar contender for more than one film but has been completely shunned by the Academy. Her role as Sissy was occasionally all sweet and innocent but as we understood her a bit more, there turned this psychologically dangerous girl with a few problems. Another pointer about Mulligan in Shame is there is another whole new side to her that we hadn’t seen before: she is an absolutely fabulous singer! James Badge Dale becomes a huge effective character in his role as Brandon’s sleazy and flirty boss David, so he is yet another reason why Shame works in every aspect so exquisitely.


At approximately 40 years old, Steve McQueen makes only his second feature film throughout his entire career after 2008 biographical-drama Hunger, which also ironically starred Michael Fassbender. Together, they collaborate once more in another eccentric film that has identical filming and screenwriting aspects particularly to Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Bertolucci’s Last Tango In Paris. It is the eerie and rather slow styles of camera angles especially in sexual scenes, unique forms of music and the occasional use of vulgar language. Each of this films as part of different generations provide the fact that film is a form of art in the various key aspects as well as for pure entertainment. McQueen’s next project Twelve Years A Slave in 2013 will become another exciting film to look forward to with Michael Fassbender appearing again.


Overall, Shame is one of those rare films that you’d watch and find both easy and difficult to watch on equal fronts as it expresses the pleasure and dangers of sex with a surreal and eerie approach to it. It is undoubtedly the greatest British film of 2011 and like many other public favourites; it has been snubbed massively by the Academy and Golden Globes! Shame could easily be described as a true dark horse of a film as it’s another great piece of art that becomes something very beautiful but also grippingly intense to watch.