A Single Man

Director: Tom Ford
Writers: Tom Ford, David Scearce, Christopher Isherwood (author)
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode
Release Date: December 11, 2009
Length: 1 hour 39 minutes

The directorial debut of designer Tom Ford, A Single Man is one of the best portrayals of a man’s life on screen, and one of the best films of the year. A Single Man is the story of George (Colin Firth), a middle aged, homosexual, English professor whose partner of sixteen years, Jim (Matthew Goode) has just died from a car accident. The film consists of a day in George’s life, sometime after Jim’s death, with flashbacks of their relationship. Throughout this day, George is ready to kill himself, at the peak of his depression. George has occurrences with different people in his life, like his good friend Charley (Julianne Moore) and one of his college students, Kenny (Nicolas Hoult). It is impossible to believe that this is Tom Ford’s first film, because the story and look and feel of the film was breathtaking. Although I was obviously not alive in the 1960’s, the film made me feel like I was there. Ford clearly has a lot of experience with making things visually beautiful, as he is a world-class fashion designer, but he managed to make the story beautiful as well. I might just be a sucker for gay romances, but he made us connect with the lifestyles and loves between homosexual men, like no other gay romance has. He made us understand everything there is about gay relationships, in a non-sexual way. There were in fact no love scenes in A Single Man and there was hardly any kissing, as well. Every flirtation, or act of love was portrayed through the intense camera work and spectacular acting. Colin Firth was wonderful in A Single Man and I could say he will win an Oscar for A Single Man, but he will probably lose out to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. Undoubtedly though, Firth definitely deserves to win an Oscar for his performance in A Single Man. Julianne Moore is one of the best actresses around, and despite her having only one scene in this film, her performance was enormously enjoyable to watch. Matthew Goode was certainly handsome in his role as Jim, but in addition, Goode and Firth shared a very strong chemistry with each other. Nicolas Hoult, best known for being the kid in About A Boy was also very good as Kenny, the college student. It is guaranteed that A Single Man is one of the best films of 2009 and is sure to be nominated at the 2010 Academy Awards. I certainly cannot wait for Tom Ford’s next film, as he has proven with A Single Man, that he is nothing short of a marvelous director. 

Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Anthony Peckman, Michael Robert Johnson
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel Mcadams
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Length: 2 hours 8 minutes

Director Guy Ritchie (Rock N Rolla) takes on the newest installment of the Sherlock Holmes franchise, with the talented Robert Downey Jr in the lead. With the help of his sidekick Dr.Watson (Jude Law), Holmes must solve his latest case involving the creepy Dark Magic Master, Lord Blackwood played by the eerie Mark Strong. While this is happening, Holmes is being distracted by his past love, world class convict Irene Adler, played by the beautiful Rachel Mcadams. As someone who didn’t watch the original series and movies, I was very intrigued by the storyline and mystery of Sherlock Holmes. The script was very cleverly written by three male writers who incorporated themes from the old Sherlock Holmes, but kept the story fresh and modern at the same time. One thing in particular that the script had was the thought process of Holmes’ decisions to do things before he acts, which was very enjoyable. It seems that Robert Downey Jr can do just about any role and do it well, also.  Recently starring in Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, Downey Jr is staying on top in Hollywood. Rachel Mcadams was delightful as always and Jude Law is witty and charming in the role of Watson. Mark Strong was villainous as Lord Blackwood and with his help and the help of the writers; his character didn’t come off as cheesy and not scary, but came off as just an evil person with a twisted mind. Lord Blackwood was one of the subtlest villains I have seen on screen in a long time. Director Guy Ritchie used different slow and fast motion effects to make some scenes more interesting. The cinematography was outstanding capturing London at the turn of the 20^th century, while the tower bridge was still being built. There were a bit too many action scenes for me in this film. Some of them were carried off in a humorous way, so those were acceptable, but some just seemed to drag on and I would be glad when they were over. Overall, this was not the best film of the year, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Sherlock Holmes has a great cast, an inventive storyline and an open ending that certainly promises a sequel.

Me And Orson Welles

Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Holly Palmo, Vincent Palmo, Robert Kaplow (novel)
Starring: Zac Efron, Christian Mckay, Claire Danes
Release Date: December 4, 2009
Length: 1 hour 47 minutes

Director Richard Linklater (Before Sunset) takes on a unique, simple story about a young man who has been just been cast in a play, directed by one of theatre’s biggest legends of all time in 1937. Richard (Zac Efron) is still in High School and finds a rare opportunity in Manhattan when he meets the great Orson Welles (Christian Mckay) and Welles casts him in his next big Mercury Production, Julius Caesar. While working, Richard meets the breathtaking, older Sonya Jones (Claire Danes), who takes an interest in him. At the age of only 17, this could be Richard’s big break in Show Biz but he might not be prepared for the stressful and life-awakening experience about to be thrown his way. There was no question that British actor Christian Mckay won me over for this film the minute he appeared on screen. His presence and persona as Orson Welles was completely captivating even when he didn’t speak. From the voice, to the walk, I believed him as Orson Welles the whole time. With Mckay’s incredible performance, you would think an actor as young and small as Zac Efron wouldn’t be able to hold his ground. Efron surprisingly surpassed that expectation, with no problem. This is Zac Efron’s first film that isn’t completely intended for a teenage girl audience, although many will see it just because he is in it. Efron has proven to be a mature, fine actor. As he get’s older, better scripts will be heading his way and he might prove to be a great actor, past his good looks. The charming Claire Danes pops up in a great film every once in a while like Stardust and Evening. She is intriguing to watch on screen and she seems to know how to pick the roles.  Me and Orson Welles is a wonderful depiction of theatre and show biz in the 1930’s. This film captures Orson Welles beautifully, and especially because the film isn’t in his perspective either. With an enjoyable script, a great director and a solid cast, Me and Orson Welles won me over in a heartbeat.

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles Mckeown
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Length: 2 hours 2 minutes

Academy Award Winner Heath Ledger gave his final performance in this wonder of a film, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus – quite a mouthful, I know - directed by Terry Gilliam (The Brothers Grimm).  This film is a visual, creative and artistic focus on a circus act called The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, in London, that performs throughout London, led by the immortal Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer).  His co-performers are his teenage daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), Anton (Andrew Garfield), a boy who’s in love with Valentina and a little person named Percy (Verne Troyer). Business doesn’t seem to be going well for the group, until they find a strange man (Heath Ledger) being hung from under a bridge. The group rescues him and takes him in. He wakes up not having a memory of who he is. While this is happening, The Doctor himself is having issues with the devil (Tom Waits) who he made a deal with, concerning his daughter. This is a film that makes you pay attention to everything that is going on in the story. Not just because you have to, to understand what is happening, but it makes you want to pay attention to every detail there is. Due to Ledger’s unexpected death, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell took over the his character as the character’s appearances changes each time he steps through the mirror into a different world. The three actors were exceptional for each of there five minutes that they had. They also seemed to pick up on the character Heath had created so well, down to the way they spoke and the idiosyncronisies each actor possessed. I completely believed that all four actors were the same character. As expected, Heath Ledger was hardly in the movie at all, maybe partly because his character wasn’t introduced until half an hour into the movie. For the small amount of screen time that he had, his persona radiated from the screen.  The beautiful Lily Cole was decent in her breakthrough role as Valentina. If it wasn’t for her character’s storyline though, I don’t think I would be half as interested when she was on screen. Andrew Garfield was enjoyable to watch as Anton, another one of the Imaginarium Act performers. Even though he didn’t have a leading title, I found his character to be the protagonist of the story. Director Terry Gilliam is known to do some kooky film projects, and this is no exception. But past the cool effects and costumes and colours, the story of the film uses old myths and tales about the devil, and good and evil, which most of us know. At the same time, the plot was completely original and inventive. Although the film most likely takes place in the present, I forgot sometimes what era they were in because the film gives off a certain timeless feel that made it more interesting to watch. I was hesitant about seeing this film not knowing if this was my kind of movie, but it turned out to be a phenomenal film. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I certainly loved watching The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus.

Nine

Director: Rob Marshall
Writers: Michael Tolkin, Anthony Minghella
Starring: Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cottillard, Judi Dench
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

It seems as though almost every December, there is a musical that comes out to compete in the Oscar race and this year Nine really seemed like the one. With an all-star cast, an amazing director, and a crappy script Nine fell straight to the bottom of the Oscar competitors. Based on; the Tony award winning musical, Nine is about Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) and the many women in his life. His wife (Marion Cottilard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his muse (Nicole Kidman), his costume designer (Judi Dench), his mother (Sophia Loren), a reporter (Kate Hudson), and a prostitute (Fergie) all play an important key in Guido’s so fascinating life. Here’s the part where I usually give the premise or backbone story of the movie. There’s not much to say because there is not much of a plot to this film. Every scene was basically each woman getting introduced to the movie, and then having there own musical number. Trying to squish 8 different storylines into one production may work in a 3-4 hour Broadway play but it certainly doesn’t in a 2-hour movie. Some characters ended up only having 10 minutes or less of screen time like Nicole Kidman and Fergie. The first couple of musical performances seemed cool with the way the director used different kinds of camerawork, from normal colours to black and white. However, soon the audience realized that all of the musical performances had the same cool effects and the songs started to seem visually repetitive. You can always tell when you watch a Daniel Day Lewis movie that he fully dives into the character he is portraying. If you watched one of his films after the other you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it’s the same actor. That’s not just because his characters usually look quite different from each other, but they all are complete individuals from anyone else. However, I felt that Lewis was a bit over the top in his Italian, aging, conflicted character. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed Fergie’s five-minute performance (including her song) more than any other woman’s performance in this film. Not only does she have a knock out voice, but her presence on screen was also unquestionable. Penelope Cruz delivered well, as she always does. I am a big fan of Penelope Cruz, but I have to say I enjoyed her acting performance more than her singing one. I found myself actually quite enjoying Kate Hudson’s small part in this film, despite my not being her biggest fan. Marion Cottillard did not have a strong voice, but certainly held her ground as a strong character, Dame Judi Dench can never do wrong with her acting, and god bless Sophia Loren for still singing and dancing at her age. I loved each cast member in this movie, especially Daniel Day Lewis and Penelope Cruz. But by the end of the film, their great performances weren’t enough to save this project. In fact in my mind, their performances were weakened by the quality of the film itself. Nine was definitely too hyped up before it came out, and seemed to everybody like it would be an amazing film to go and see. How could you blame our naïve eyes, with an all star cast – 6 out of the 8 stars with Oscars -, directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and based off of a Tony award winning musical, Nine appeared to have it all. With all this excitement comes a load of disappointment, when you actually see the film, unfortunately.

The Young Victoria

Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Writer: Julian Fellowes
Starring: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend
Release Date: December 18, 2009
Length: 1 hour 45 minutes

Queen Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom when she was just 18 years old. She married and remained Queen for 63 years until her death in 1901. Victoria was the one monarch to stay on the throne the longest, to this date. This film gives everyone a detailed view of the young Queen Victoria’s life. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, The Young Victoria is an endearing, happy, romantic story about Queen Victoria’s life expanding from her childhood to her first few years as a Sovereign, starring the magnificent Emily Blunt. Victoria is approaching her time to become Queen when she meets the handsome Prince Albert. It is to be presumed that these two will marry eventually, which is excellent because Victoria takes a liking to him anyways. Victoria does not marry him just yet because she feels she is not ready for marriage at the age of 17. While preparing for the coronation of her becoming Queen, Victoria relies on Prince Albert and her cousin Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) for support and advice. Many people feel she is not ready to accept the throne and many people will use her age and lack of experience to take advantage of her. These are the problems the young girl must face being Queen. Unlike films like The Other Boleyn Girl and The Duchess, The Young Victoria tells much more of a personal story and a better perspective is created from her character with the writing and with the convincing performance from Emily Blunt. I was glad to see that the writer and director of this film didn’t use the love between these two real people to turn this film into only a love story. Even though the film focuses on her relationship with Prince Albert, it also delves into the problems and decisions that Victoria has to confront, as young Queen. This film is part personal and part political. The Academy Award winning writer of Gosford Park, Julian Fellowes, wrote the incredible script and Martin Scorsese was a producer on this film as well. The whole world seems to be falling in love with Ms. Emily Blunt, these days. In the past few years Blunt was a British snobby assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, relatable American twenty something living with her sister in Sunshine Cleaning, and now the legendary Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. This is the first film where I have seen Emily Blunt in a romantic role and her love story with Rupert Friend is one of the most convincing loves I have seen on screen. Rupert Friend has yet had a starring role in a film, but he is slowly becoming more recognizable to Hollywood, as he is probably better known in England. They young actor had supporting roles in Pride And Prejudice and The Boy In Striped Pajamas and recently had more important roles in Cheri and The Young Victoria. As an extremely handsome leading man, Rupert Friend gives a wonderful performance as Prince Albert, the queen’s potential husband. Friend and Blunt share a powerful chemistry in The Young Victoria. As someone who usually doesn’t enjoy historical films, I liked The Young Victoria very much. You are guaranteed to be won over by the motivating script and Emily Blunt’s captivating performance as Queen Victoria.

It's Complicated

Director: Nancy Meyers
Writer: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Length: 2 hours

Here comes another Nancy Meyers film, for all you middle age woman out there. It has been three years since Meyers last film, The Holiday and the female population has missed her straightforward humor. Jane Adler is a working, divorced mother, living in a beautiful house in Santa Barbara, California. Her three gorgeous children are all grown up and have moved out of the house, and she is the owner of her own bakery in town. She is now planning on adding an extension to her house, with the help of her architect, Adam (Steve Martin). When in New York for her son’s graduation, Jane see’s her ex husband of 10 years, Jake (Alec Baldwin), who is now remarried to a much younger woman who is planning on having children with him. When the old pair run into each other, the old sparks reignite and history starts to repeat itself. My trouble with his film was that the overall storyline wasn’t relatable to my ‘teenage’ mind, but nevertheless still enjoyable. That problem was probably what set me apart from everyone else, who absolutely loved the film, as I just enjoyed it. I have loved every single one of Nancy Meyers other films like The Parent Trap and Something’s Gotta Give. It’s Complicated evoked the same humor and tone that Meyers’s previous films had, but I unfortunately didn’t laugh as much during It’s Complicated, than I did during her other films. Meryl Streep can never do wrong, and god bless the diversity between all her roles. It was refreshing to see Meryl Streep as just a regular woman of today as opposed to a nun, or Julia child, or a conceited fashion editor. It’s Complicated was a break from Meryl Streep being Meryl Streep. Alec Baldwin seems to be in about everything in 2009, with starring roles in the hit show 30 Rock, and the indie film, Lymelife and supporting roles in My Sister’s Keeper and It’s Complicated. Alec Baldwin is just as greatly admired as Meryl Streep at this point and the casting for this film couldn’t have been more perfect. Steve Martin hasn’t done a good comedy in a while, so it was great to see him in a nice role in a good movie for a change. Not my favourite Nancy Meyers film, but I still liked It’s Complicated very much. And if you are over the age of 20, I feel like you’ll like it a lot more than I did.

Avatar

Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
Release Date: December 18, 2009
Length: 2 hours 42 minutes

He said he was the king of the world after Titanic, well now he must be the Emperor. It’s been over 10 years since the legendary James Cameron delivered the world the academy award winning Titanic, of which Cameron won 3 Oscars. This film will guarantee him more gold men to add to the shelf. Written by Cameron as well, Avatar is such a profound story that someone only as great as James Cameron would be able to pull it off. In the year of 2154, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a handicapped marine who’s been stationed on the planet Pandora, where a large group of Americans are trying to bulldoze part of the planet to reach a valuable, rare rock. The group of people who live on this planet are the Na’vi, or just tall, blue people. A replica body of the Na’vi is made for Jake and he is sent by head Scientist Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) into Pandora to research the Na’vi’s, and gain their trust. Soon Jake meets Na’vi beauty Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and with guidance from Neytiri, Jake learns how to be like one of them. Going back and forth between his Avatar and his human body, Jake is constantly reporting what the Na’vi and Pandora are like to the other scientists. Understanding more about the beautiful land, Jake starts to questions the army’s plans to destroy it. If a person goes to see this film, it is a necessity that they see it in 3D. This is just because every scene filmed on Pandora – which was most scenes – looked so magnificent to the eye. I loved watching the film in 3D because that meant I never tore my eyes away from the stunning film in front of me. When the film was finished, I felt that I just exited the world of Pandora where this incredible story took place. People seem to think it was only the beautiful visual effects and 3D that pulled the audience into the story, and it’s true, the scenes were quite breathtaking, but people may not guess that the story was extremely intriguing as well. After seeing the film, I still thought about it a great deal as well as some of the environmental issues that were highlighted in the film. Writing this review, I almost feel that I am not doing this masterpiece any justice, as it is the best movie experience I ever had. Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana give great performances in Avatar, but the true star of this film was Mr. Cameron himself. You could feel him in every spectacular scene. This is something I do not find during any other film. It is quite the understatement to say that James Cameron is a creative genius when it comes to film, storytelling, and film technology. This is by far my favourite film of 2009, and definitely one of my favourite films of all time. Avatar is guaranteed to win Oscars this March, otherwise I might have to turn off the television. Even if you’re not a sci-fi or James Cameron fan, everyone who likes movies needs to give Avatar a try, because it will be worth every minute of your time.

The Princess And The Frog

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writers: Ron Clements, John Musker
Starring: Anika Noni Rose
Release Date: December 11, 2009
Length: 1 hour 37 minutes












Walt Disney Pictures have been delivering the world with classic animation musicals since Snow White and The Seven Dwarves in 1937. After almost 75 years of enjoyable filmmaking, Disney takes a break from it’s live action films and back to it’s solid roots of animation. The Princess and The Frog quite boldly makes this the first Disney animation film starring an African American princess. Tony award winner, Anika Noni Rose, voices the main role of Tiana and it is just wonderful to hear her sing. Tiana is a young African American working girl living in New Orleans in the 1920’s.  She has dreamed ever since she was a little girl of becoming a princess and she has a chance of dressing up as one at the masquerade ball. While on her balcony dressed as a princess, a mysterious, talking frog asks her to kiss him and make him human again. This grotesque creature is really the charming, handsome, Prince Naveen, who has been trapped in this state from the evil Dr. Facillier’s magic curse. When Tiana is finally convinced to kiss the frog, the story doesn’t go as planned, as Tiana is now a small green creature as well. Together, the two frogs go on a quest to find Mama Odie, the queen of magic, to turn them both back into humans and on the way they make some interesting friends who can also sing and dance. This is the first original Disney musical done in digital animation since Mulan that came out in 1998, and it was definitely worth the wait. The best part about Disney musicals is that you can be assured that the whole family will enjoy the film. Other kids’ animation films done by Pixar or DreamWorks are sometimes good or even great to watch, but there is always a risk that not everyone will like the humor or story. Disney musicals like Princess and The Frog always have a genuine, wonderful story and extraordinary musical numbers that bring smiles to everyone’s faces, especially children. If we’re getting technical here, the animation was undoubtedly exceptional and realistic to the audience. This film will become a classic, with the songs sung by children from generation to generation. If you miss it in the theatre, it will be just as good in the comfort of your own home. The Princess And The Frog was one of my two favourite kids films of the year, the other being Up. If you haven’t already guessed it, I fell in love with The Princess And The Frog and I can assure you, you and your family will too.