Traitor
Traitor is a brave film. In these reactionary times, any film that portrays a sympathetic view of a Muslim is a rarity and one that focuses on an American Muslim is even more rare. Don Cheadle has never shied away from a challenging role and he tackles this one with an amazing sense of dignity and restraint. No crazy eyed terrorist but a considered and intelligent man fighting an internal and external battle.

The film is built on a structure of giving the audience just enough information to give the story a strong forward momentum but doesn’t completely define the characters’ actions or intensions. It leaves much open for interpretation and discovery. The one constant however is excellent acting and Cheadle has never been better.

To describe too many elements of the plot or story does disservice to a potential audience but it’s safe to say that this action piece includes the FBI, in another rare sympathetic view, lots of big explosions, chase scenes, prison scenes and more than a few real surprises. The film does a good job of keeping you on the edge of your seat the entire time.

Being brave and presenting a challenging view different from the norm is all well and good but if the entertainment value isn’t there, no matter how noble the intensions are, no one will want to see it. Traitor sidesteps this dilemma with a successful blend of craft and statement. It’s also just a thrill ride worth taking.
Rob Hudson
official website



Dying Breed
A group of Friends, Matt (Leigh Whannell), Nina (Mirrah Foulkes), Rebecca (Melanie Vallejo) and the thoroughly obnoxious Jack (Nathan Phillips), head to the Tasmanian wilderness to continue a search for Thylacines begun by Nina's ill-fated sister a year prior. What follows is a thriller that owes much to Deliverance in terms of setting and tone, indeed the title of that film is even name-dropped.

What is it with horror films that they persist in drawing one of the protagonists as an obnoxious moron? Here that position is filled by Jack who is so repulsive that the audience resents not only him but also his comrades for being so gullible as to allow this idiot to accompany them into the wilderness. The end result is that we couldn't care less for this band of meat pie fodder and thus the emotional core of the film is severely undermined. Wolf Creek suffered from a similar antipathy towards is central characters but that film was saved by a sterling performance from John Jarratt.

The editing does the film no favours. It is sometimes confusing for its use of inexplicable flashbacks; for instance a collection of blood stained cotton balls evoke a ‘memory’ of Nina's sister having her teeth pulled but clearly such a memory is impossible as Nina knows nothing of her sister's demise. Also, every shock is set up previously by an establishing sequence with the shock shot as its obvious conclusion. For example, a sequence revealing the disappearance of the films incumbent Deliverance-style spooky kid is followed by a shock shot of said kid turning up in the presence of our heroes (surprise, surprise!) A reversal of these shots would probably have been more effective. However, the production quality is excellent and it's great to see local genre films getting access to decent budgets.

Dying Breed shares another attribute with Wolf Creek and that is that its largely forgettable first half serves merely as a transitory mechanism to get us to its second half which is the guts of the film (so to speak). But also like Wolf Creek, when the film hits its stride, it becomes a very effective horror film that culminates in a nicely executed false ending which surely won't disappoint the fans of this genre. Sadly the film’s fine conclusion will, no doubt, open the door to a series of very poor opportunistic sequels.
Stuart Jamieson
official website



Rocknrolla
Like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch before it, RocknRolla revolves around a group of small time crims who become indebted to a local gangster thereby setting in motion an intricate series of interrelated comical events which ultimately wind up in a neat, mortal conclusion. Where the first film had a pair of guns and the second had a diamond, the item of desire here is a painting.

Guy Richie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was fresh, sassy and funny. Snatch followed suit and, being practically the same, was (obviously) less fresh and less sassy and less funny. The script was also less elegant but Brad Pitt was great in it and we enjoyed it nonetheless. Now we have RocknRolla and it's even more of the same but by now it's starting to taste a little stale and the elegant narrative economy of Lock, Stock is largely replaced with a series of interrelated scenes merely clunked together to form basically the same story yet again. The films intrusive use of narration to define each character only serves to further draw comparisons to the former picture. RocknRolla is still an enjoyable movie; however, but like a great joke that's been told for the third time, it inevitably pales in comparison to its first hearing.

The performances are good but not outstanding, being merely on par with what you'd expect from a cast of this calibre. Mark Strong, for instance, had a much better opportunity to demonstrate his acting chops in Ridley Scott's Body Of Lies and Tom Wilkinson merely rehashes his role from Batman Begins. In Lock, Stock, Richie used performers who were unknown at the time (well, except for Sting and, to a much lesser extent, Vinnie Jones) which also afforded that film a greater level of perceived authenticity than is evident in this film. RocknRolla also suffers for having a dearth of appealing characters - there are no cocky, lovable heroes like those which drew us into Lock, Stock - and it's difficult to relate to any of the characters portrayed here.

While it's clear that Richie has a talent for this type of film, RocknRolla's carbon copy similarity to its forebears gives the overall impression of Guy Richie making a ‘Guy Richie’ film and the promise of sequels implies that there is yet more of the same to come. Lightning may strike the same place twice but three times (or more) is stretching it.
Stuart Jamieson
official website



How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Playfully riffing off the title of Dale Carnegie's classic 1936 self help manual, How To Win Friends and Influence People, Robert B. Weide's film of Toby Young's memoirs follows Sydney Young (Simon Pegg), a British celebrity trash journalist who somehow finds himself employed by a high class glossy New York tabloid magazine presided over by hard-arse, Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges). Naturally the Blighty upstart, who turns up to his first day at work wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with 'Young, Dumb & Full Of Come', doesn't quite fit in with the plastic butt-kissers of NY high society and largely predictable shenanigans result.

Relentlessly poking fun at the vacuous self-important China dolls and pretty boy preeners of the ‘beautiful’ social hierarchy, Weide's film remains charming and mildly amusing throughout. It's a shame that it rarely fires on all cylinders, though, as it coasts through its disappointingly predictable narrative and a series of set pieces whose connection with reality is tenuous at best (considering it's based on a memoir).

Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst deliver their usual likeable, charming performances; of course, Jeff Bridges is an institution unto himself; and Megan Fox portrays a pretty but pretty talentless rising Hollywood starlet with little effort.

Covering similar ground to The Devil Wears Prada, How To Lose Friends seems to be striving for a greater level of sophistication, but the fact is that Prada (due largely to Meryl Streep's razor performance) is the more pointed satire on high society publications. Nevertheless, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People is still mostly good fun.
Stuart Jamieson
official website

Burn After Reading
Burn After Reading is archetypal Coen Bros, doing what they do best and doing it at the top of their game. This time around the Coens bring their acerbic wit to the espionage thriller and the results are as funny and thrilling as anything in their highly impressive back catalogue. Typical of the Coens, the movie consists of an intricate, multistrand plot involving a snubbed CIA analyst (John Malkovich); a womanising, lactose intolerant, hyper allergenic, paranoiac fitness freak (George Clooney); a halfwit, pretty-boy gym junkie (Brad Pitt); and his neurotic, image-obsessed workmate (Francis McDormand) who is intent on selling state secrets to the Russians in order to bankroll her costly plastic surgery makeover. Naturally, this being a Coen film, all manner of lunacy ensues.

Intricate plotting has become a trademark of Coen films and Burn After Reading is no different. The script on offer here is trim and taut and the excellency of the writing is underlined by a series of terrific performances. Everybody is great here, from the big name principle figures to the minor roles. J.R. Horne, in particular, gives a virtuoso performance in the tiny role of the divorce lawyer, flipping amusingly between stolid legal advisor and predacious lawyer. McDormand exhibits considerable bravery; readily submitting herself to the scrutiny of her aging physical attributes, she is clearly a woman who is (admirably) comfortable in her middle age. George Clooney and Brad Pitt defy, yet again, all our attempts to despise them for their charismatic chic by delivering the films two best performances. Tilda Swinton does cold like nobody else can and Malkovich is just Malkovich but love him for it.

Burn After Reading is a safe Coen film. Normally such a statement would be a barely veiled criticism but when it pertains to the work of Joel and Ethan Coen, it's a complement. It is the hot cup of cocoa and the warm doona with the big fluffy pillow on a cold winters night; it's everything we've come to love from a Coen comedy all wrapped up in a comforting, easily digestible package.
Stuart Jamieson
official website



Max Payne vs. Death Race
When it comes to big, dumb and derivative, Hollywood really knows how to deliver the goods. Vying for your viewing dollar this season are two of the least original films ever made. Originality is nowhere to be seen but both these films pack in a lot of fun but be warned, when you buy your popcorn, grab an ice-pick as well because a frontal lobotomy would really help in your enjoyment of these two mindless romps.

Max Payne is based on a third-person shooter video game so you know it has lots of depth and ditto for Death Race, a remake of the 1975 cult classic Death Race 2000. There is very little story (and logic) to get in the way of all the action and both films are visual feasts of gratuitous violence and illogical action, in other words, they would both make great first date films, especially if your date is with Aileen Wuornos.

The storylines in both films are revenge yarns involving murdered wives and the payback scenarios soon escalate to mammoth proportions and instantly leave all reason behind. This is escapist entertainment at its best (or worst depending on how many grey matter brain cells you have left).

To help you with your selection of which film to see, use the following advice: If you are a fan of Marky Mark see max Payne, if Jason Statham floats your boat see Death Race. If a rev-head description fits, Death Race is the choice or if you’re a video game fan, Max Payne will do and finally if you have a date with a homicidal hottie, see both.
Rob Hudson
www.maxpaynethemovie.com
www.deathracemovie.net



The Duchess
Don’t write off The Duchess as just another period-piece costume drama, it has a lot going for it. First and foremost is a great performance by Ralph Finnes. He continues to be bravely unafraid to play unsympathetic characters and his role as the wealthy Duke of Devonshire will have your anger peaked from his first moments on screen. Elsewhere the injustices forced upon women in the 18th-century will keep that emotion intact.

Keira Knightley is hard put upon as Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire as she endures a loveless marriage to the narcissistic and often cruel Duke. The constraints placed upon women during that time force Knightley to emote with a minimum of body movements and she succeeds admirably. Director Saul Dibb is more than happy to let close-up shots linger to drive home emotional high points.

He also takes his time in establishing the sumptuous nature of both dress and abode and takes full advantage of great costumes and sets. It’s a story that has been told many times before but is done with enough verve this time to warrant a new audience.

Within the confines of the accepted behavior of the times and sometime outside those norms, Mrs. Cavendish succeeds in being a doting mother, an astute political animal and a woman with deep passions. She lived a life of many frustrations and her ultimate resignation to fate is heartbreaking but her internal strength is uplifting as well and it’s this duality that gives The Duchess its depth and appeal.
Rob Hudson
official website



Wall-E
WALL·E is wildly imaginative and utterly amazing to look at. It steps outside quite a few filmmaking norms (like the complete lack of dialogue for the first 20 minutes) and has a photo-realism (until humans enter the story) that defies its CGI origins. It also marks the beginning of what is hopefully a step away from the Disney values ethos for Pixar Studios.

Its dark beginnings and view of an earth used as little more than a trash receptacle is not your usual family fare and this departure gives the film an adult relevance that is very encouraging. If the industries most consistent studio can produce work that can have such universal appeal and have a socially relevant message, the sky and cosmos are ultimately the limit.

This message of ecological concern is blended in with a story so charming and wonderful to look at, even the most jaded child (or adult) will be left with some sense of concern while being completely entertained. Only Pixar could give animated robots more humanity than most humans are capable of.

It took the folks at Pixar a long time to bring this story to fruition (they have had the basic idea for a number of years) and the end results show a love of craft and attention to details that exceeds anything they have ever done. This was indeed a labor of love and it shows in every frame.
Rob Hudson
official website



Step Brothers
More important than the question of weather it’s a hi-brow or lowbrow comedy is the question, is it funny? Step Brothers is indeed funny, laugh till tears run down your face funny. Gross out, regressively funny and a real return to form for Will Ferrell.

The basic story revolves around two forty something losers, Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Doback (the always dependably John C. Reilly), who still live at home with their single parents. When said parents hook up and get married, the four begin to live under one roof and form a nuclear family that’s more melt down than explosion.

The writers are unafraid to sink to even the lowest form of comedy and the actors gleefully indulge their every whim. So you have laughs coming at you from every direction. Fart jokes, pee jokes, sleep walking jokes, even prosthetic scrotum jokes are given full reign here and not an underlining serious message to be seen to spoil the fun (until the last reel).

If laughter is the best policy, then maybe this film could become one of America’s most useful exports. Instead of financial chaos, they could send copies of this film around the world, because how can you worry about dollars and cents when you are laughing so hard it hurts?
Rob Hudson
official website



The Tender Hook
Contemporary settings have become de rigueur for the Aussie film industry in recent times. There haven't been many films set in different times and different places, away from the stark, brutal realities of the here and now. So The Tender Hook, set in the 1920's Jazz Age of Sydney, comes as a breath of fresh air. It's a shame, then, that the film is not more compelling as it is unlikely to inspire more films of its ilk. That's not to say that the film is poor, it's just typical.

A gangster's moll (Rose Byrne) who falls in love with an average Joe (Matt Le Nevez) who must, in turn, bear the wrath of the jealous mobster (Hugo Weaving) is hardly an original story; Peter Greenaway's The Thief, The Cook, His Wife and Her Lover comes immediately to mind and The Tender Hook is certainly a minnow in that pond.

An occasional CG element drifts into the film now and then, placing the actors into 1920's archival footage; but with the obvious difference in quality of 20's and 00's film stock, this is achieved with such limited success that one wonders why it was done at all. This ain't no Forest Gump!

But regardless, Byrne, Weaving and Le Nevez are likeable performers and, along with Pia Miranda, they keep the film jogging along at a pace sufficient to pique your interest. It's not bad; it's not great; it's merely a pleasant timewaster.
Stuart Jamieson
official website



Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Following the sweetly entertaining Bend It Like Beckham and the delightful corny farce of Bride And Prejudice, the next film from director Gurinder Chadha is Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Departing from her usual theme of the collision between Western and Indian social mindsets, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging follows Georgia (Georgia Groome) a typical 14 year-old negotiating the nemeses of adolescence - bad hair, bad complexion, playground bitches and uncool parents - whilst attempting to procure that sweetheart date. She's Adrian Mole with a skirt, basically.

Based on Louise Rennison's novels, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God, Chadha's film is nicely written and funny but sadly the performances from the central cast (which includes Alan Davies AKA Jonathan Creek) are a little stilted. This, however, will likely be lost on the target young-teen audience so it is of little consequence.

The film feels small-time for Chadha considering her previous projects, almost like it belongs on TV rather than the cinema, but it's entertaining enough and it certainly possesses a charm of its own.
Stuart Jamieson
official website



The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Running afoul of a love triangle, ancient Chinese Emperor Han (Jet Li) is turned to stone by sorceress, Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) and his plan for world domination and immortality are thwarted. 2000 years later, bad people mean to lift the curse that would allow Emperor Han to enslave all of mankind with the help of his terracotta militia armed with ancient pre-Christian weaponry. (Good luck with that!) Enter retired adventurers and Indiana Jones wannabes, Rick and Evelyn O'Connell (Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello, respectively). The pair are enduring a loathsomely comfortable English aristocratic lifestyle when approached by the British government to undertake 'just one more job' - to courier an ancient Chinese relic with the power of resurrection back to its country of origin. Naturally the artifact falls into the wrong hands and the O'Connells have another mummy to dispatch.

Like the second film in this series (and to a lesser extent the first film) Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor is an exercise in what Hollywood does badly and nowhere is this more evident than in its frustrating lack of attention to detail: a sword swipe through a row of candles results in a zigzag cut; the antagonist is turned to stone only to be found a couple of millennia later in a completely different pose to that in which he was frozen. Certainly these are small details in the overall scheme of things but it is exactly this that makes it all the more annoying. It's almost harder to get these tiny details wrong than it is to just get them right and it reflects a Hollywood laziness, which typifies the entire production.

Performances are solidly patchy. Maria Bello attempts to prove that a whole character can be embodied solely within an accent and fails. Putting so much effort into getting her English-toff accent right, she leaves little energy for fleshing out her character, lacking completely the earthy charm brought to the role by genuine ol' Blighty actress, Rachel Weisz (who wisely opted out of this production). Brendan Fraser remains a reasonable action hero in search of a better vehicle (perhaps he will fare better in Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 3D but initial reports are not promising). Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh provide a level of statesmanship beyond the worth of this film. And O'Connell Jnr. (Luke Ford) is so uncommitted to this project that he can't even bung on an English accent to maintain canon with the rest of the production (English accents must be so uncool with the young folk).

This is a by-the-numbers action adventure reciting a special-effects-over-substance mantra and while $145M worth of entertainment for 15 bucks can't be all bad, the money could have been better spent.
Stuart Jamieson
official website

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