60-second cinema

6 out of 10 (I'm writing this review a good number of weeks after having seen the film, but here goes anyway.) For all the hype and Oscars (including Best Picture) that this received, I was left a little disappointed... and confused. Struggling to make out Tommy Lee Jones's mumblings as the Sheriff , I failed to get the importance of his role in the story. Instead, I invested my keenest interest and expectations in the killer (Javier Bardem) and the chancer (Josh Brolin), only to get a bit of a surprise late on. Hey ho. In hindsight, the story itself was fine — good, in fact — and it was pretty well shot and directed. I figure my mark just reflects how I felt after it. A second viewing might see that rise.

8 out of 10 An interesting biopic, looking into the formative years of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna — or ‘Che’ to you and me — The Motorcycle Diaries follows said revolutionary on a road trip around South America with his friend, Alberto Granado. The hardships of the people they encounter, and the injustices they suffer, give a new perspective that will later change Che’s life forever. The whole film is beautifully shot and, as you’d expect, paints a sympathetic portrait of a man I’d previously only encountered on students’ posters. Enjoyable and educational. :) Incidentally, in the new year, the Tyneside Cinema is showing part one of a two-part series of films on the later life of Che Guevara, with the second part coming in February. Suspect I’ll be checking them out too...

3 out of 10 Was this even a Bond film? I barely noticed. Uninvolving and hard to follow (even with a spot of revision before I went in), this was little more than one fight after another on a trail of revenge that probably made sense to someone, somewhere. Probably. While the story was lacking, I'm really not warming to Daniel Craig as Bond either. At first I thought he made a good, tougher Bond, but now I'm starting to think the relative lack of emotion is more a case of wooden acting. Or maybe the director was just useless. Either way, I'm hoping for, rather than expecting, better from the next outing.

another go Earlier this year, this site had loads of reviews being posted on it. January had 8 reviews, February had 17, March had 8, and then it all tailed off. The last 6 months have seen a grand total of just 6 reviews. I blame the credit crunch. I'm just not getting out to the cinema as much as I used to. :( However... there are another 9 (nine) contributors on this blog. Surely someone's seen something for which they'd like to share a review? Well, ok, maybe not Colin, but I've given up on cajoling him. ;)

7 out of 10 As much as I desperately want to be one of the cool kids for whom this is the greatest movie ever, I continue to find it... gently funny. The Big Lebowksi, if you didn't already know, is the tale of dope-smoking slacker Jeff Lebowski, drawn into a kidnap plot by accident of his surname. Jeff Bridges plays the aforementioned Dude, alongside bowling partners Walter ( John Goodman ), a headcase Vietnam vet, and Donny ( Steve Buscemi ), a constant subject of abuse from Walter. After the Dude is mistakenly harangued for ransom money, the story follows the shambolic attempts of this trio to extricate themselves from the plot and put things right. Chock full of catchphrases, ridiculous cameos, and wonderfully bizarre dream sequences, it's certainly got everything a movie-going hipster could want. I just never found it that much more than plain funny. I'm clearly not destined to be an achiever . :-/

9 out of 10 I was seven years old when the Israel-Lebanon war kicked off, back in 1982. I went to see this in the hope of learning something. Sure, I could've read Wikipedia for a while, but I'd heard good things about this film and believe the medium can offer more than mere printed word. Having seen it now, I feel it's fully deserving of the praise it's getting. Waltz With Bashir is an animated, near-documentary tale of the director's attempts to regain suppressed memories of his involvement in the conflict. As the viewer, you join him in this unsettling journey of discovery, intertwined with fellow soldiers' tales of their own experiences. The overall film doesn't try to put one side's views or beliefs ahead of another's. It merely presents the horrors of young men propelled into a war they don't necessarily understand and struggle to cope with. It's about understanding both the personal and political realities, not blaming or braggin...