Peter Steward

I don't see nearly as many films in a year as I would like to - it's a time thing. Anyway I thought I would discuss those viewed in 2009. This might amount to anything from a handful upwards. Anyway here goes:

Note on star rating system: Each film is given a rating of between no stars and five as follows:

No stars - Absolute garbage with virtually no redeeming features

* - Poor and cannot be recommended

** - Average but with some interesting aspects

*** - Above average, but possibly with limited appeal

**** - Well above average film that I can recommend

***** - Exceptional film that shouldn't be missed, verging on the classic

Australia - Cinema City, Norwich **

Firstly let me say that my favourite venue for films is the compact Cinema City in Norwich. Small viewing rooms, good sound quality and a real cinema experience, a long way from the popcorn and ice cream brigade. You can even take a glass of wine in with you!

And so to Australia. This could be the most entertaining and the most ridiculous film of 2009. It scores very highly in the enjoyment stakes and some of the action and photography is excellent. Sadly the story and much of the acting is just ridiculous and that brings the whole thing down.

First problem is it tries to be an Australian Gone With the Wind. There are many of the similar elements here. A homestead, a strong female, a handsome male, strong historical action. Sadly that's where the comparisons end as Australia at times verges on comedy rather than drama.

The title makes you imagine a huge vista of a film - a monumental work of colour and history. Unfortunately this couldn't be further from the truth. Okay all the elements are there but the action just stretches reality far too thinly.

It's the story of a strong minded upper class British woman who goes to Australia in search of her husband whom she assumes is having an affair. She arrives to find he has drowned in rather sinister circumstances. So she takes on the running, at first reluctantly, of a huge smallholding. She gains the wrath of a farmhand whom she sacks and then employs a drover. To cut a long story short they "drove" or should it be drive thousands of heads of cattle, fight a host of baddies and then get caught up in the Second World War bombings of Darwin.

There's plenty more strands to the storyline in what is a long film. Essentially it also interweaves the history of aborigines in Australia through one of the central characters.

The problem is very little of it is believable. If you can believe that a handful of unqualified people can drove thousands of cattle across the dangerous outback then you are a better person than me. Then there are the characters themselves. Talk about stereotyping. All the white Australians are boozy thugs, brawling, cursing and womanising. The main female character is a hoity-toity English woman with a strange twisted accent.

Nicole Kidman plays the lead role with one of the plummiest and worst English accents you will hear in 2009. Hugh Jackman plays the main male role mainly due to his extravagantly wonderful looks. The dialogue is at times trite and plain silly and much of the plot is, as I've already said, ridiculous.

The film also keeps stopping and starting as if it is a series of episodes where one stops before the next starts. So you keep thinking the film is ending only to see it start up again. This happened after about 30 minutes and I thought I could be watching one of the shortest "epics" of all time - no such luck.

The bombing scenes towards the end of the film are quite spectacular and well worth watching, but can't raise this film high enough to make it a worthwhile experience, although some people will get through a number of tissues before the end.

The Golden Compass - Sky Television **

I watched this on the same day as Australia. Again quite enjoyable but pretty pointless. I'm not a fan of fantasy literature and struggled through the Philip Pullman books because I felt I ought to rather than because I wanted to.

I found the plot contrived and it doesn't improve in film form. It is again episodic in nature and quite a let down and not a film I would greatly recommend.

Slumdog Millionaire - Vue Cinema - Norwich **

Firstly you have to suspend belief because at times this film is as ridiculous as Australia.

It's a rather contrived story at best surrounding the fortunes of a young man from the gutters of Mombai who finds himself winning millions of rupees on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. But how is he doing it?

The show is then used as the vehicle for a series of flashbacks on his life and we soon understand exactly where the answers are coming from. Danny Boyle's film has been described as the "feel good film" of the decade. That is certainly over-hyped. I would seriously question whether it's the feel good film of the year. Certainly it will do nothing for the tourist trade to India, illustrating in great details the poverty and violence of that country.

Having said that it is an entertaining story but it does stretch the bounds of reality rather thinly into two hours of goodies and baddies - right and wrong which is often a bit blurred.

The surprising thing is that Slumdog Millionaire won numerous BAFTAS and Oscars - it really isn't that good.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Cinema City - Norwich ***

Contrived, yes; entertaining, yes; If you liked Forrest Gump you will like Benjamin Button. It has the same episodic Americana feel to it. Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it tells the strange story of Benjamin Button who is born as an old man and works his way backwards in time - growing younger whilst those around grow older.

Of course if you analyse too deeply you can get lost in just what would happen if this became reality. It is better to just enjoy it for what it is - escapist entertainment that expands on the original which was a pretty flat story.

There are so many parallels with Gump taking themes of death and age along the way. It is quite remarkable that everyone involved with Benjamin just accepts that he is growing younger without him becoming the obvious national celebrity that this would make him in the real world. It's a cheesy American film that requires the suspension of belief but it does work strangely well.

In Bruges - Sky Television - ****

Slumdog Millionaire won all Oscars and various other awards but it isn't a patch on this excellent film. Having said that I can see the mass appeal of Slumdog and the kind of cult following this film would pick up. Certainly In Bruges isn't going to be for everyone - for a start the language throughout the film is appalling so if you are upset by four letter words steer well clear.

If you are, however, amazed by sharp observations, witty dialogue and originality this should come high on your list. At times it almost lapses into slapstick, but always keeps on nodding acquaintance with reality.

Basically it's the story of two hit men who, having completed a job, are ordered to go to Bruges where their psychotic boss orders one to kill the other. That sounds very simple and it is the simplicity of the action, at times violent, that makes the film so good. The characterisation is wonderful with Colin Farrell outstandingly funny as Ray and Brendan Gleeson also excellent as the hood with a heart. Ralph Fiennes as their boss Harry is wonderfully psychotic.

The star of the show is the immensely beautiful city of Bruges - one of my favourite European destinations. Throughout Farrell, who is not at home in such a city of history and culture, refers to it as a shit hole. This is the essence of the film. Bruges is certainly anything but a shit hole and that means that everything that comes from Ray's mouth must be taken with a pinch or two of salt.

The locations are excellent, the action never slows and much of the dialogue is deliciously funny. It's one of those films you just have to see to appreciate fully.

The Damned United – Cinema City ***

This portrait of Brian Clough's short 44 day stay as manager of Leeds United is highly entertaining, but I'm not sure how factually correct it is. It is very English in feel and would be of little interest to anybody not interested in football, although it does have certain historical and social interest.

I have the distinction of coming across Clough when he was manager of Nottingham Forest. He is quite the rudest man I have ever met, physically throwing me out of the ground when I was simply trying to do my job as an agency reporter. Over the years that incident has become a source of amusement to me, although it wasn't particularly funny at the time.

Michael Sheen plays Clough with the correct amount of arrogance but perhaps with just too much good nature and a hint of devilment. The excellent Timothy Spall portrays Clough's side-kick Peter Taylor as a "good old boy" and perhaps something of a fun figure and this, too, may be a little off beam. Nevertheless it's a fun film despite its ridiculous depiction of the Leeds United players as a bunch of thugs with Billy Bremner a demented dwarf type figure and its depiction of Derby County players as hyped up teenagers eager to please.

The Wrestler – Virgin Atlantic Airlines ****

When a film receives almost universally good reviews it must have something going for it. Many believe Micky Rourke should have received an Oscar for his portrayal of washed up wrestler Randy The Ram Johnson - a man haunted by his past glories and literally wrestling his demons.

There is much to be admired in Rourke's portrayal of a man who is essentially kind and compassionate but on the edge of life. Of course Rourke's role has much in common with his own personal life and that alone makes it a fairly easy role for him to play. The film also gives a good portrayal of the world of American wrestling entertainment and the camaraderie between those involved. We all know the bouts are fixed and carefully choreographed but that doesn't detract from the violent elements involved. The way wrestling gets into the blood is perfectly portrayed in the film.

Above all this film is about Rourke's understated portrayal of his character - a man that brings joy and horror to the world in almost equal amounts.. He is a genuinely likeable character who has been through the ringer a number of times. His desperation to be re-united with his daughter is an interesting sub plot. It is a film about a human being's attempts for redemption, attempts to return to the glories of the past. But it isn't all dark. Randy has never totally become a yesterday man, never totally lost his appeal. Randy never loses sight of his objectives but it is his drug abuse that holds him down rather than his lack of ability.

In the end illness and desperation become the overriding elements of a powerful film that is well worth watching.

Frost/Nixon – Virgin Atlantic Airlines ***

A masterly performance by Frank Langella as Richard Nixon is the highlight of this film. He manages to make us feel sorry for one of the saddest and most corrupt presidents in the history of the USA. To do this is no mean feat. The main interest in this film is the interaction between Nixon and Frost (another typically English idiosyncratic performance from Michael Sheen).

Frost is portrayed as a workaholic and charismatic personality, not quite in touch with his subject at the start but someone who shrugs off the mantle of a talk show host and semi-comedian to give the best performance of his life in a series of biting interviews. The real David Frost has said that the film is very close to reality which gives it some considerable credibility.

Grand Torino – Virgin Atlantic Airlines ***

Another American feel good film. Laconic Walt, played by whispering Clint Eastwood, is a typically grumpy old backwater American - living uneasily with his neighbours and at odds with his own family who seem to exist simply to bleed him dry.

Eastwood's redemption comes in his support for the underdogs - something that turns him into an unwitting hero.

Grand Torino shows the ultimate good nature of the human spirit. It poses few questions, being an up front film that nevertheless is enjoyable, although perhaps not as important as some critics would have us believe.

Taken – Coach trip to Amsterdam **

Standard thriller with Liam Neeson outbonding 007 as he exacts revenge on the people who have snatched his daughter. There is little to the film other than action but it is watchable if totally unbelievable.

Anchorman – Coach trip to Amsterdam **

Cornball and ridiculous American comedy surrounding a news anchorman played by Will Farrell. Oddball, farcical but entertaining enough.

Johnny English – Coach trip to Amsterdam **

Even more ridiculous than Anchorman, Rowan Atkinson saves the Crown Jewels and the monarchy. Farce and farcical. It should be given one star but there are some fun bits

The Island – Coach trip to Amsterdam **

Good special effects lifts this film out of the totally mundane. Silly fantasy about people being cloned to act as insurance policies for the rich who use them for organ transplants.

Mamma Mia – Sky Television ***

Yes a load of old tosh, but also an entertaining load of old tosh. The plot seems to be pretty irrelevant, just sit back and enjoy the great countryside and the wonderful Abba songs, however badly they are sung/ Listening to the lyrics you get an idea of the powerful songwriting - how subtle they are and how they fit so well in so many situations. This is unashamedly a feel good film and should just be accepted as exactly that.

Prom Night – Sky Television *

A slash fest of Americana horror. It's prom night but a stalker is at large. That's about the sum of the plot. He murders at will in his attempt to get to the object of his desire – but with so many deaths it becomes pretty irrelevant whether the main character survives or not.

Nights in Rodanthe - Sky Television ***

I know this slushy film was panned in quite a number of places but it was entertaining and quite enjoyable. There's nothing new in it - couple meet accidentally, fall in love, disaster strikes. You kind of know the formula, but the locations are picturesque and Diane Lane and Richard Gere just manage to avoid the heaving basin sickliness that afflicts many similar films.

An Education - Cinema City ***

I was looking forward to seeing this film, but can't quite make my mind up whether it worked or not. A period early 60s piece it is a coming of age story of a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with a man almost twice her age. Nothing new in that.

The success of the film is the inter-action between the main characters and the wonderfully miserable Tony Hancock-esque facade of the main character's father - a lugubrious man who you kind of grow into as the film goes on. Alfred Molina is excellent in the role.

The problem with the film is it backs itself into too many dead ends. Subtle plot themes just fizzle out or are never developed and the ending is a real let down. To discuss these in full would sadly give much of the plot away, suffice it to say that the "boy" friend who seduces the main character's parents as much as the main character herself is not what he seems. Come to think of it if he had been exactly what he seems - a charming beau - there wouldn't have been much of a movie.

Carey Milligan is super as the 16 year old Jenny. Unfortunately she behaves and acts as a much older woman. Indeed Milligan was all of 22 when the film was shot. Dressed as a schoolgirl she just about gets away with the teenage tag but when dressed up and with her hair up she looks all of her 22 years or possibly more.