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Julie & Julia (out 08 March 10, Cert. 12) Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, dir. by Nora Ephron, 2009, Cert. 12 MonkeyScore: 72% Julie & Julia follows and intertwines the stories two women who embark on culinary self-discovery journeys. Married to a government employee posted at the US Embassy in Paris, Julia Child discovers French cooking in the 50s, before becoming a household name in the US as a TV chef. In 2002 Julie Powell challenges herself with a blog project: cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's first book in 12 months, and publishing her thoughts online as she goes along. The stories of Julie & Julia are interesting and well performed, but somehow fail to turn this very pleasant film into an unmissable release. The two women are both entertaining and moving but come across as slightly self-indulgent. Amy Adams makes wannabe writer Julie Powell borderline neurotic, but as she is a young professional New Yorker it seems quite plausible. Meryl Streep as Child is more of an enigma. In America Streep's performance gained much praise for really nailing Child's mannerism, intonations and demeanour. Where Child is not a celebrity, however, it's a bit more difficult to relate and engage. This is until you actually check out the bonus features to watch the real Julia Child's cookery show. The excerpts presented are from a much older Julia than the period covered in the film but make it quite obvious that the lady was a larger than life character. Taking on the challenge of portraying her would have been daunting for a lesser actor than Streep. A good choice for Mothering Sunday, if a bit obvious.
Toy Story (out 08 March 10, cert. PG) MonkeyScore: TBC%
Toy Story 2 (out 08 March 10, cert. PG)
MonkeyScore: TBC%
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Kill Zone (out 08 March 10, Cert. 18) Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, Jacky Wu, dir. Wilson Yip, 2005, Cert. 18, in Chinese with English subtitles MonkeyScore: 66% Detective Chan (Simon Yam) is terminally ill, close to retirement and harbouring a deep grudge against Triad boss Wong Po (Sammo Hung.) He finally gets a chance to nail him on his last day, as his replacement Inspector Kwun (Donnie Yen) gets introduced to the tight-knit squad. In keeping with traditional Hong Kong cinema, Kill Zone is both over the top and over acted, yet still manages to be a lot of fun throughout. The plot is thinner than a paper lantern, and the big fight scenes are sign-posted a mile ahead yet it takes nothing off of them. Kill Zone delivers plenty of perfectly choreographed, vastly entertaining skirmishes, most with added fake blood a-plenty. As seems compulsory with the genre there are more clichés that you could shake a light-sabre at, including a white-leathered baby-faced bleach-haired assassin. Some of the camera work is straight out of 1980s Hollywood cop shows, and rather bizarrely no lose end goes untied. Yet somehow Kill Zone is oddly satisfying. The 2-disc set contains just about everything fans of the genre could wish for, and then some, making this release a rather necessary addition to any decent Asian cinema collection. We
have secured 5 copies of the Kill Zone DVD for you to win to in our
competition this week - just follow the link!
The Mentalist (out 08 March 10, Cert. 15) Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Amanda Righetti, Tim Kange, Series 1 (6 discs), Cert. 15 Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) is a reformed fraudulent psychic who crossed over to the law enforcement side after a serial killer calls his bluff and hacks off his family. He uses his uncanny ability to observe human behaviour to help the CBI team led by Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) solve crimes. There are already shows out there with socially challenged police aides (Monk), forensic psychology (Lie To Me), science geeks (Numbers) and one disguising his deduction abilities by pretending to be psychic (Psych.) Indeed one could argue that there is little need for yet another quirky consultant cop show - let alone another cop show! The Mentalist point of difference, however, is what makes it worth watching. Patrick Jane is clever, undoubtedly gifted, not worried about correct (or lawful) procedures and charming enough to get away with it most of the time. The cases solved may not be edge-of-your-seat stuff but they are decent enough, coupled with a great on-screen chemistry between Jane and Lisbon, to be really quite entertaining. A boxset worth getting to catch up with the beginning of the series, and the characters back stories.
Taking Woodstock (out 01 March 10, Cert.15) Dan Fogler, Eugene Levy, Clark Middleton, Jonathan Groff, Emile Hirsch, Dir. Ang Lee, 2009, Cert. 15
MonkeyScore: tbc When interior designer Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) hears that a nearby town refused a permit to a high-profile concert he phones producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures, offering boarding at his family Catskills motel. The year is 1969 and half a million festival goers are about to make history at one of rock & roll's most legendary events. |
Bright Star (out 08 March 10, Cert. PG) Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Kerry Fox , dir. Jane Campion, 2009,
cert. PG MonkeyScore: 68% 23-year old English poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) begins a secret love affair with Fanny Brawne
(Abbie Cornish.) They get found out by Fanny's mother and
Keats' best friend but the relationship
is by that point rather unstoppable so intensely and helplessly absorbed are they in each
other. Their romance only gains depth with each obstacle, but as Keats falls ill a mere year later there is no happy ending in sight. Bright Star is shot very beautifully, and director Jane Campion elicits great performances from Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw as the star-crossed lovers. Cornish is particularly brilliant at portraying young Fanny's raw emotions. Campion's writing is light and airy, giving the actors the space needed to bring Keats poetry to life. Yet despite obvious talent on both sides of the camera the end result falls short of expectations. This critic puts it down to the lack of chemistry between Whishaw and Cornish: this is quite disheartening as both are really excellent. It feels even more unfair as just about everything else about Bright Star is spot on. One gets into Bright Star expecting to be bowled over by a romantic intensity on par with Keats poetry, but unfortunately it never quite reaches such heights.
An Education (out on 08 March, Cert. 12) Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, dir. Lone Scherfig, 2009, cert. 12
Amelia (out 08 March 10, Cert.PG) Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, dir. Mira Nair, 2009, Cert. PG MonkeyScore: tbc Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in this biopic of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman ever to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and became a national celebrity with the help of her publicist & future husband George Putnam (Gere.) Earhart later developed feelings for Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) but her marriage to Putnam was to last until her disappearance in 1937 during an ill-fated attempt to fly around the world. |
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