UN CONTE DE NOEL aka CHRISTMAS TALE (2008)

Director

Arnaud Desplechin
Screenwriter
Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu
Starring
Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud, Anne Consigny, Chiara Mastroianni, Laurent Capelluto, Jean-Paul Roussillon
Studio
IFC Films
Release Date
21 May 2008 (France)

Christmas Drama...

Synopsis: Junona (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon) are the parents of three children: Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), a melancholic playwright with a mathematician husband (Hippolyte Girardot) and a tortured teenage son, Paul (Emile Berling), Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the self-destructive black sheep, banished from the family events by Elizabeth five years prior, young Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), the peacemaker, is married to the lovely Sylvia and has two eccentric little children, while fourth - Joseph, the eldest - died of leukemia in a child. When the disease reappeared again in the family, all are tested to see who can become a donor, and then everyone - including lovesick cousin Simon and Henri's girlfriend, Faunia - return home for a long weekend of Christmas . Everything crowded again under the same roof, solidarity quickly - and hilariously - lies in conflict, drunkenness and bed-hopping, as the whole world struggle to make sense of the mysteries of family life, and what lies ahead.

Review: "A Christmas Tale" is a marvel of intimate character study, revealing a wealth of behavioral complexity among the members of a dysfunctional family gathering for Christmas. It is about a family laughing and crying off its own curse, and the joy is in knowing the filmmaker and we are laughing and crying right along with them. It center on a large, fractious family gathered in a comfy house for one of life's big rituals and feature a depressive grown daughter, a wild, wonderful soundtrack, and filial dynamics that strain and stretch the boundaries of civility. This is an intimate character-based drama with a sprawling ensemble and a 151-minute running time to match.

The Film introduces us to Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon), the matriarch and patriarch of the none-too-harmonious Vullard clan, whose roots are in the provincial French town of Roubaix (near the Belgian border). At the very beginning of the film, the movie opens with a narrator outlining the family back story which is the crucial background information. In the early 1960s a young couple, Abel and Junon Vuillard, give birth to two children, Joseph and Elizabeth. Joseph has a rare genetic condition, and only a bone marrow transplant can save him. But Abel and Junon, as well as Elizabeth, are incompatible. And so the couple conceive a third child, Henri -- but his marrow doesn't match, either. Joseph dies at age 7. The couple have a fourth child, Ivan. And as "A Christmas Tale" moves forward to the present day, we learn how each member of the Vuillard family has moved on, and away, from this initial seed of loss and sorrow. At Present, only a few days before the sugar plums and wassail are set on the table, Junon Vuillard, the grand matriarch of a family of lunatics, is diagnosed with a serious case of leukemia, the same disease that already claimed her eldest son Joseph. A bone marrow transplant is her only chance and now circumstances conspire to bring the entire family together for the Christmas for the first time in six years. They are include the eldest surviving child, Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), and her emotionally withdrawn son, Paul (Emile Berling); the black sheep of the family, Henri (Mathieu Amalric), and his bubbly lover, Faunia (Emmanuelle Devos); the youngest son, Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), his devoted wife, Sylvia (Chiara Mastroianni), and their two young children; and Simon (Laurent Capelluto), the son of Junon's dead brother. This moment is also the "reunion" of Elizabeth and Henri, who don't like each other. Elizabeth is a successful playwright who is consumed both with worry about her fragile teenage son, Paul and with rage toward her ne'er-do-well brother Henri. Henri is a fast-talking hustler, an alcoholic whose entire personality is a compensation for always having been despised by his parents. He returns to his family home piss drunk with his new lady friend Faunia, fully prepared to pour salt in every familial wound he can locate, including the mutual distaste felt between Junon and himself. And it's not only past grudges and Junon's illness that color the weekend but also unforeseen romantic complications, a heady mix that produces completely unpredictable results.


Desplechin's narrative strategies can be puzzling at first glance, but it's still OK because his drama unfolds with a comforting acuity that defies easy analysis. A holiday family gathering, A terminal illness, Bitter resentments and feuds, Secrets revealed, Relationships kindled and others in a state of flux. If all of this sounds overly familiar and potentially treacly, fear not. Desplechin is a past master at this sort of Chekhovian orchestration of multiple story lines. He treats its characters and their lives with an uncommonly raw and complicated realism. Desplechin isn't out to explain as much as explore the complicated relationships between family members and the complexity of feelings behind those connections. It's a tender and lovely scene, an evocative way to suggest the theatricality of memory and the blurring of detail over time. It's also a prelude to the playful storytelling and inventive technique to come in the mercurial, knotty and cinematically vibrant drama of family dysfunction stirred up over a Christmas gathering, The performances in A Christmas Tale are uniformly wonderful. The actors are individually good. They work together to feel like a family. Deneuve is imperious, but also impossible not to feel for. Amalric makes for a ridiculously endearing bad seed. Devos, in just a supporting role, sparkles -- an amused family outsider who brings levity to the amassed tension. As Elizabeth, Consigny is taut with supressed rage. Deneuve's real life daughter Mastroianni is lovely.

In General, roiling with laughter, tears, drunken confessions, revelatory soliloquies, pain, sorrow, hospital visits, and various kinds of love, A Christmas Tale is a smart, sprawling, and sublimely entertaining feast. "A Christmas Tale" is emotionally rich and cinematically thrilling film. With at least nine primary characters and running two and a half hours, it's a big, fat novel of a movie, a domestic epic that fuses bitterness and forgiveness in completely satisfying ways.

ROLE MODELS (2008)

Director

David Wain
Producer
Mary Parent, Scott Stuber, Luke Greenfield
Screenwriter
David Wain, Paul Rudd, Ken Marino, Tim Dowling, W. Blake Herron
Starring
Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jane Lynch, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks
Studio
Universal Pictures
Release Date
7 November 2008 (USA)

Official website
RoleModelsmovie.com

It's Killer Funny...

Synopsis: Two salesmen trash a company truck on an energy drink-fueled bender. After their arrest, the court gives them a choice do hard time or spend 150 hours of service with a mentoring program. After a day with the children, however, the prison does not look half bad. Surrounded by annoying do-gooders, Danny struggles with his every neurotic impulse to guide Augie through the trials of becoming a man. Unfortunately, the guy just dumped by his girlfriend has only sarcasm to offer a shy 16-year-old obsessed with medieval role-playing game. Meanwhile, charming Wheeler tries to trade of the addiction to partying and women to help fifth grader named Ronnie reorient his foul-mouthed ways. It would probably help if the new mentor of Ronnie was not an overgrown adolescent whose idea of quality time includes keggers in Venice Beach. Once the center's former director gives them an ultimatum, Danny and Wheeler are forced to adapt their brand of immature wisdom to their charges.

Review: Role models takes a familiar PG-rated plot and adds enough profanity and nudity to earn it a family unfriendly R. Despite its R rating, "Role Models" is basically a kids' comedy for adults where funny people say funny things in funny situations. It is a consistently pleasant, often funny, sometimes clever, occasionally even touching little movie that does what it sets out to do. This is yet another film in which adults bond with kids and, in the process, both members of the pair learn important life lessons.

Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play Danny, a spokesperson for Minotaur Energy Drink who spends his days telling teenagers not to do drugs with a fluffy Minotaur dancing behind him and Wheeler, a cheerful horndog who wear a ridiculous Minotaur costume. They are teammates who drive a Minotaur-mobile super truck from school to school, touting a Jolt-like drink as the high-octane energy boost that will get you high without a jail sentence: "Just say no to drugs, and YES! to Minotaur!". Unlike Wheeler who always cheerful and optimistic, Danny, in his mid-30s, is feeling miserable. After he hit his 10th anniversary on this job, he starts fights with people who say "ASAP" and his girlfriend of 7 years, Beth (Elizabeth Banks) surprisingly dumps him. An unfortunate series of events driving Danny into an intractable depression and Danny loses it and tells a cafeteria filled with teenagers how awesome drugs are and how life sucks. That's before he running their monster truck up a school's and crash it into a statue of a horse which is also a public properties. For that crime of stupidity (among others), Wheeler and Danny are offered a choice: go to jail for a month or mentor two boys in a Big Brothers–type organization called Sturdy Wings, run by a rather unsteady former coke whore played by Jane Lynch. Danny gets assigned a fantasy-obsessed loner dork named Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), whose parents don't understand him and offer no support, while Wheeler gets paired with 12-year-old Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), a self-proclaimed "booby man" who says "fuck" every time he exhales, who is living with his single mom and though tough on the outside is fragile inside because he doesn't trust men ever since he was abandoned by his dad.


A pair of overgrown adolescents (Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd) indulge in bad behavior and are assigned to mentor troubled kids in a Big Brother-type program sounds predictable. But it is consistently funny, largely because of the sharp dialogue, written by Rudd and director David Wain and a well-chosen ensemble cast. There are no mysteries here, but there’s some solid comedy writing and pretty effective playing. The characters, in a very movie way, become likable as things progress, but the film is smart enough that they never quite lose their edge. A live-action, loopy, medieval-battle role-playing event is without a doubt where Role Models delivers the most laughs. Wain's take on LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) (which is essentially a live-action version of D&D with padded swords and no dice) is amusing and avoids the trap of being too condescending to those productive members of society who participate in this activity. What's interesting about the fantasy medieval warfare is that the players take it with deadly seriousness. Danny and Wheeler, with their two young charges, join the nerdy, armor-clad throng in a Los Angeles park, crossing swords, striking down the enemy armies and addressing one another as "thou" and "my liege."

As much as low expectations are built into films like this, Role Models unexpectedly overcomes its tepid veneer, often flying into propulsive bouts of comedic energy. It gives up much of the humor and high ground gained in previously offering a good combination of observant comedy and intelligent social conscience drama, as it climaxes poorly with a wishful pat ending. Everything is satisfactorily resolved in the end, as the formula requires. But since their problems were a little deeper than usual in this genre, our pleasure is increased a little. Not to the point where we're cheering, you understand. But to the point where we're thinking, hey, I sort of liked that.

Did you know?

* In the background of a scene before a "battle" some actors are dressed up in Stormtrooper-like armor, contradicting the medieval fantasy theme of the game.

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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Director

Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Producer
Mireille Soria, Mark Swift
Screenwriter
Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Etan Cohen
Starring
Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Will.I.Am
Studio
DreamWorks Animation
Release Date
7 November 2008 (USA)

Official website
Madagascarmovie.com

Africa or Zoo...?

Synopsis: Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins and chimpanzees are isolated in the remote coast of Madagascar. Given this obstacle, New Yorkers have hatched a plan so crazy it just might work. With military precision, the penguins have repaired an old crashed plane-type. Once up, this unlikely crew stays airborne just long enough to make it to the wildest place of all--the vast plains of Africa, where members of our zoo-raised crew encounter species of their own kind by the first time. Africa seems a great place - but is it better than his home in Central Park?

Review: The pleasant crew of the cheerful 2005 DreamWorks animated film "Madagascar" reunite for "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa". Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa features the same lovable quartet of zoo animals out of their element, plus their canny penguin pals, brainy chimps and clever lemurs. But it adds dozens more creatures into the mix and moves the action to the African plains. Fans of the original will find plenty to love in the sequel (including 40% more covert penguin action).

This new film starts years ago with a young lion being trained by his father in the ways of Savanna survival. But the lion cub is much more interested in being a ham and not learning endurance techniques. And then an African lion named Zuba squares off against his scheming, underhanded rival Makunga (Alec Baldwin), and in the process the young lion goes off the reservation and is captured by some poachers. His crate falls off the truck and he drifts across the ocean to NYC. Once found, he is placed in the Zoo and quickly becomes Alex the dancing lion (Ben Stiller), the king of NYC. Then the scene jump back to where the last film ended. Our penguins have rescued a plane and have gotten it up to a running flight status. Alex, Marty the acid-tongued zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the dour giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the happy hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) are all together trying to get back to their Zoo home from the titular country, Madagascar. Of course, everything goes horribly wrong and our animated heroes fall short of their goal, landing someplace, not in New York City but on a very familiar Savanna (Africa). Here, the four main animals encounter their wild counterparts and experience culture shock as they meet legions of their own species and also these four each have an adventure. The wreck fortuitously reunites Alex with his dad Zuba (the late Bernie Mac) and mom (Sherri Shepherd) which is a great news for Makunga, who longs to lead the group and sets in motion a series of events that leads to Alex and his father being cast out of the group, leaving him in charge. Marty finds a herd of zebras and discovers that all the zebras look, sound and act exactly like him. He is initially gleeful about joining a herd, but then becomes despondent when he find that he may not be as unique as he thought. Melman discovers his obsessive belief in being sick makes him a perfect Savanna doctor, while secretly pining for Gloria. Gloria falls in love with macho dumb lug hippo Moto Moto (voiced with dripping sexiness by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas) which sends Melman into a tailspin of jealousy. For in an implausible case of inter-species attraction, the giraffe turns out to be madly in love with the hippo. All four stories eventually converge as Alex has to save all the animals from a water shortage.


Escape to Africa is a vast improvement over its predecessor. The plot moves forward into wildly funny and heartfelt character exploration. New characters are added to the mix without losing the fast-paced beat and all the original voices are back for more. The creative forces behind the last Madagascar, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa also extends what Madagascar did best, fill up the screen with computer-generated visual novelty. With full, vibrant colors and richly detailed backgrounds, Madagascar 2 has as much "pop" as any recent digitally animated production. The animation is sharp, and whenever things start to get confusing, a penguin or lemur comes onscreen and does something really funny. As was the case with the first film, the penguins get all the best lines. They once again steals every scene they are in, making the most of the little amount they are put into this film.

Generally, most of the story is influenced by The Lion King, not because of similar settings only, but also familiar plot. Though it will get no points for originality, there's no denying the sense of fun the film contains, supplied primarily from its game voice cast who elevate the material with their inspired work. The cast of characters is also obviously has grown and the story still focuses on the value of friendship. The plot expands to include familial and romantic love, and to celebrate diversity and uniqueness. Though it doesn't add anything new to the genre, Madagascar 2 is amusing animated fare.

Did you know?

* The sequel Madagascar 3 (2011) was confirmed months before this one came out.

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ROCKNROLLA (2008)

Director

Guy Ritchie
Producer
Joel Silver, Guy Ritchie, Susan Downey, Steve Clark-Hall
Screenwriter
Guy Ritchie
Starring
Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell
Studio
Warner Bros
Release Date
31 October 2008 (USA)

Official website
Rock-n-Rolla.com

Lets Rock and Rolla...

Synopsis: When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are at stake, and all of London's underworld wants in on the action. Everyone, from a dangerous crime lord to a sexy accountant, a corrupt politician and down-on-their-luck petty thieves conspire, collude and collide with each other in an effort to get rich quick.

Review: For Guy Ritchie fans, welcome back to the world of Guy Ritchie as it stood back in 2000 with Snatch, Guy Ritchie’s new film RocknRolla consists of a nonstop parade of improbable dastardly characters, assorted incompetent criminals, burned-out rockers, wigged-out junkies, criminal masterminds and dimwitted hoods, and that’s not even taking into account unkillable Russians, an ice queen of a duplicitous accountant, gay gangsters and the gangsters they make nervous, plus a few man-eating crayfish tossed in for good measure. RocknRolla is sexy, fast, loose, smart, and extremely funny. It's crammed with colorful criminals, which Ritchie and cinematographer David Higgs backlight to great effect. It chokes on delightfully screwy schemes, which the director and his editor James Herbert slice, tape, and test-drive at breakneck speeds. And that's the key. It keeps moving, hardly caring if you are keeping up.

The story features a congregation of bad guys who sleaze around London's underworld. They include a boss played by a scenery-chewing Tom Wilkinson as Lenny Cole and the Wild Bunch, a group of small-timers from Ritchie's earlier gangster films who are hungry to challenge the raised bar of crime world which include One-Two (Gerard Butler), more handsome than he is smart, but he's learning, and his longtime mates, Mumbles (Idris Elba) and Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy). "RocknRolla's" deliberately convoluted plot centers around the hunt for a painting that belongs to a Russian mobster, Uri (Karel Roden) who's trying to muscle his way into London's real estate boom with the help of old-school gangster Lenny Cole. One Two and Mumbles have borrowed $7 million from Lenny to buy real estate, all well and good except Cole already owns the land and refuses to sell. He makes arrangements to steal the money, then demands to be paid back. Lenny needs the money for a deal with a council member and so on and on. The money and the painting change hands through double crosses. It all concerns millions of Euros in payoffs for a crooked land deal, with said payoffs being hijacked twice by the same inept crooks, thanks to the inside information provided by Uri’s less-than-honest accountant, Stella (Thandie Newton). She sells them the location of the bank where the Russian is preparing to make a major withdrawal. Add in Uri’s “lucky painting,” which he’s given to Lenny for luck, and which has been subsequently stolen by Lenny’s crackhead rock ‘n’ roll star stepson, the supposedly dead Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell). Johnny has faked his own death in an attempt to boost album sales, Johnny should be laying low but can't resist turning up to throw a wrench into his father's carefully laid plans. and that’s the basic story.


The plot of RocknRolla is a little on the labyrinthian side, but that’s mostly owing to the number of characters and the details. The story itself is a pretty straightforward one concerning old-school Brit gangsters (personified by Tom Wilkinson’s crime boss Lenny Cole and his underlings) and the new influx of Russian gangsters (represented by Karel Roden’s Uri and his underlings). The movie, narrated like a graphic comic, spins off in many directions, and afterward you realize there were several spins and scenes more than necessary. The narrator is Mark Strong who, through a quirk of scheduling, is appearing in other two movies released in the same weekend, one of them is Body of Lies. There are various double-crosses, a Maguffin in the form of a painting we never see, and a Russian land developer who hires some unsavory underlings. The busy plot grows exponentially more complex each time writer-helmer Ritchie drops another colorful character into the mix. The action is in-your-face and always contains an element of dark humor. Also, there's a seconds-long sequence that's arguably one of the most economical sex scenes ever filmed. It's brilliant, and shows how deftly Ritchie is at moving along a moment necessary to the plot without the hindrance of details. Ritchie acknowledges his audience's intelligence in this scene and throughout the movie.

In general, RocknRolla gives off the impression that the once-heralded filmmaker isn't trying so hard any more to jolt, confuse, stimulate, and entertain his demanding followers. As a result, he delivers his most jolting, confusing, stimulating, and flat-out entertaining picture since 2000's Snatch. If you enjoy the likes of "Get Shorty," "Reservoir Dogs" and "Smokin' Aces," you're going to have a great time at Guy Ritchie's latest heist/doublecross flick about, of all things, real-estate swindles.

Did you know?

* The band playing in the club scene are 'The Subways' with their song 'Rock & Roll Queen'.

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CHANGELING (2008)

Director

Clint Eastwood
Producer
Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Robert Lorenz
Screenwriter
J. Michael Straczynski
Starring
Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly
Studio
Universal Pictures
Release Date
31 October 2008 (USA)

Official website
Changelingmovie.net

A Provocative Thriller Based on Actual Events

Synopsis: In 1928, Los Angeles, single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) arrives home to find her son, Walter, disappeared. Five months later, her prayers are answered and Walter is in Illinois. But, to Christine's horror, the boy who gets off the train is not his son. The authorities vehemently disagree with the assessment of Christine, and her only ally is a clergyman (John Malkovich), who sees the case as his opportunity to expose the corruption of the police in LA and the government.

Review: "Changeling" is based on a true story, but knowing that it's true couldn't have made it any easier for Eastwood and the actors to pull off the pivotal scene. It is the factual account of a mother whose little boy disappeared, and of a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department running wild. The story, in an incidental way, touches on the respective differences in status between men and women in this earlier time.

Set in 1920's L.A., the film stars Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins, a single mother who adores her young son Walter. She leaves him home alone one day after unexpectedly being called into work, and when she comes home from work, she find that her son is missing. Gone. No trace. Vanished. Christine calls the police. They won't even look into his disappearance for 24 hours. Besides, they tell her, most kids who go missing return by the next day. Walter doesn't. Weeks go by, and still no sign of him. Five months later, LAPD Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) contacts Christine and tells her that her son had been found alive in DeKalb, Ill. He arranges for them to be reunited at the train station. Accompanied by the police captain, she goes to meet the boy at the train, but there was a problem, Collins said the boy was not hers. The returned boy was three inches shorter than Walter, was not recognized by his teacher and classmates, and had dental records that did not match. The police, under fire for lawlessness and corruption, had positioned the case as an example of their good work. They were determined to suppress Collins' protests. When she starts to insist more loudly that the LAPD is pulling a fast one, Jones has her committed to a mental institution where no one can hear her pleas. Her disappearance became the cause of an early radio preacher named the Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich). Gustav Briegleb is devoted to calling out the LAPD for its sins. He fights side-by-side with Christine as she looks for ways to take on a corrupt system and searches for the true whereabouts of Walter.


Eastwood makes the changeling’s world so visually appealing and fascinating in its details that we just want to linger there, when the story intrudes, it feels like an intrusion on our world, too. Eastwood's telling of this story isn't structured as a thriller, but as an uncoiling of outrage. The film has no single unnecessary stylistic flourish, no contrived dramatics, no shocking stunts. This is what so interested about Changeling, all the "normal" things that can be enjoyed about a well-made drama, the eloquent screenplay, the masterful direction, the fine performances, but what really hooked above all else was the chance to peer into a different era where trust went a lot further than it does today. The actors are uniformly good. Jolie gives a performance of enormous passion and intelligence. Jolie is superb in presenting a mother’s heart, so intertwined with her child’s safety, she will defy these policemen who have subverted their duty to serve the people with staggering arrogance. It’s interesting to see Jolie, whom we know to be something of an independent sort, playing a character who’s often forced to hold her tongue.

Running two-hour-and-21-minute, “Changeling” could have been tightened up a little, but the story is told so clearly and efficiently. The lack of wasted space and motion makes this film continuously interesting. Even though Changeling isn’t very good, it satisfies.

Did you know?

* Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders.

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TINKER BELL (2008)

Director

Bradley Raymond
Producer
Jeannine Roussel
Screenwriter
J.M. Barrie, Jeffrey M. Howard
Starring
Mae Whitman, Kristin Chenoweth, Anjelica Huston, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Adlon, Jane Horrocks, Jesse McCartney
Studio
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date
28 October 2008 (USA)

Official website
http://www.disney.com.au/DisneyOnline/fairies/movies/movies.html

Sweet and charming CGI Disney movie

Synopsis: Tinker Bell must save Pixie Hollow by finding the true magic of pixie dust.

Review: After spending decades as little more than Peter Pan, Walt Disney’s favorite fairy finally gets a tale of her own in Disney’s Tinker Bell, who’s a major supporting character of Peterpan, a playful, headstrong and ultimately powerful little blonde fairy. "Tinker Bell" is a nice introduction to the frisky fairy and her friends. The image appears to be fairly accurate, too, because the young Tink in the film is so stubborn just as Peter Pan fans would expect her to be.

Tinker Bell introduces us to the origins of this little fairy. Brought to life by a baby’s first laughter, each new fairy flies to Pixie Hollow, where she then gets her wings and discovered her talent. When the new fairy, Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman), arrives, she discovers that she's a tinker fairy, which means that she is responsible for the creation of important devices that help the other fairies do their job.

However, as fairies are preparing to usher in another spring, Tink starts to feel inferior to the other fairies, and then struggles with the limitations of her birth (being a lowly fix-it fairy instead of one with more glamorous roles in life). After all, while stuck in the Tinkers' corner, in collaboration with Clank and Bobble (Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen) to make teapots out of acorns, her nature fairy friends are preparing for an exciting trip to mainland.

Determined to join the other fairies in the continent, Tink recruits her friends to help her change her talent, but she soon learns that she's a tinker fairy for a very good reason. And, finally, she achieve the success and happiness as a true tradition of Disney.

Tink is surrounded by all sorts of cute new characters, too, and each one adds to the charm of the film. You’ll meet Tink’s friends, the nature fairies (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy Liu, America Ferrera, and Raven-Symoné). Each has its own style, its own personality, its own special abilities, and although not a lot of time on the screen, you still get to know each of them. The movie’s animation is also very nice. From the fairies' costumes to their bright, natural environment, everything is crisp and colorful, and the characters look almost natural. The CG sets are filled with all kinds of imaginative little details, from acorn teapots to carts made out of seeds.

Colorful, fun and unremarkable, Tinker Bell is much better than the average of children movies, and while the backgrounds in most scenes are predictably static, given the modest budget of this sort of production, it generally looks pretty good. Despite the story offers some adorable characters and a sprinkling of laughs, it still mentions a valuable lesson, but really isn’t really new. The moral of the story is to be proud of who you are, 'Be true to yourself and anyone can be a hero. "

Did you know?

* Mae Whitman replaced Brittany Murphy as the voice of Tinker bell.

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PRIDE AND GLORY (2008)

Director

Gavin O'Connor
Producer
Gregory O'Connor
Screenwriter
Gavin O'Connor, Joe Carnahan
Starring
Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, Lake Bell
Studio
New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Release Date
24 October 2008 (USA)

Official website
PrideandGlorymovie.com

Family or Justice...

Synopsis: A gritty and moving portrait of New York City Police Department, the film follows a multi-generational police family whose moral code is tested when one of the two sons of force is investigating a case of arson of his brother Wholesale and brother-in-law. The case forces the family to choose between their loyalties to one another and their loyalty to the department.

Review: "Pride and Glory," rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content. Stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall. The title refers to the qualities that draw men and women to the force. But the movie is brimful of observations and insights that are, in many ways, deeper and richer than its stated themes. The film is about The premise of a hardened police veteran passing on the family trade to his sons which is full of meaty dramatic possibilities. And when one of those brothers is possibly mixed up in shadowy bad-cop shenanigans, things can get downright explosive.

In the film, Edward Norton, who can be great but is capable of coasting on his inner fire, clamps down on the multi-faceted role of Ray Tierney. Soft-spoken and melancholy, Ray Tierney, could have been the epitome of crusading good cop. Noah Emmerich matches him as his brother, Jon Voight does his juiciest, freest acting in years as their father, and Colin Farrell is startlingly good as their brother-in-law. Ray has been on desk duty for a couple of years after a a controversial case that wounded him physically, emotionally and morally. O'Connor gradually clues us in to Ray's checkered past, which involves a headline-grabbing scandal that put him on the stand where he thought he'd have to testify against fellow officers. Now a grisly ambush of four officers from Francis (Noah Emmerich)' precinct are gunned down in a botched raid in Washington Heights, in which he lost a close friend, has prompted Ray's return to the active investigative beat. Ray's father (Jon Voight) pulls his talented son, Ray, back into the fold to investigate, even though clues start pointing back to Jimmy (Colin Farrell) and other cops who are under Francis's watch. Ray is obviously working through some serious law-enforcement career issues. When he starts to get a whiff of wrongdoing in the department during his investigation, the stakes are raised.

In "Pride and Glory," featuring the acting bravado of Edward Norton, Colin Farrell and Jon Voight, we're treated to a well-crafted and sharply plotted version of the genre. Norton takes the lead, delivering a raw and subtle performance that bares his character's conflicted soul. Emmerich, as Norton's brother, is particularly fine in the role as a mostly genial, somewhat distracted commanding officer who has let his personal life overshadow work responsibilities. Farrell gives a typical bushy-browed, rough-and-scuff performance as a conflicted officer, but he's never able to make the character his own in the way that Norton does. The actor's commitment trickles down through the ensemble, sweeping up Voight and Emmerich (both first-rate) and even elevating Farrell to a level rarely seen from the volatile actor.

O'Connor, for his part, makes a number of intelligent decisions. He doesn't hurry his action, giving his absorbing characters room to breathe. He doesn't hew exclusively to Ray's point of view, but he conspires with Norton to make us see the action through Ray's eyes. And hear it through his ears. And feel it through his skin. And filter it through his brain, by far his most dangerous organ. Even if his dad is proud of Ray's superior intelligence and deductive skills, they mark his boy as a man apart. The distance can be felt from the moment he aarives late to the football game. O'Connor gives us strong back stories in these characters' lives, from Ray's dying sister-in-law to the distinctive power structure in a family ruled by an old-school cop. In brisk but defining terms, we capture the flavor of this clan: a tipsy Voight dominating the table with gushy oratory over Christmas dinner; a screaming mother interceding in an argument between father and son; the hint of pent-up frustrations between brothers.

Pride and Glory explodes the boundaries of melodrama. It's genuine drama, except that it's acted out by men who express themselves with fists, billy clubs and guns. The textured story is stitched together with a thick emotional fabric that is weaved by the excellent cast. In the film, evil does sleep with the good - in the department, in cop families and in the hearts of its antiheroes. It doesn't devalue the thin blue line that separates civilized life from animality, but it doesn't give cops a free pass just for leaping boldly on either side of it, like Egan, or for protecting the reputation of the force at all costs, like Voight's grizzled, overemotional patriarch. Though it has a lot in common with other similar movies genre, Pride and Glory" stands on its own for a couple of good reasons.

Did you know?

* Nick Nolte was originally cast as Francis Tierney, Sr. But an old knee injury flared up and Nolte found himself unable to perform when he came to the set.

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SAW V (2008)

Director

David Hackl
Producer
Mark Berg, Oren Koules
Screenwriter
Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Starring
Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon, Meagan Good
Studio
Lionsgate
Release Date
24 October 2008 (USA)

Official website
Saw5.com

The Jigsaw legacy V...

Synopsis: In the fifth delivery of the "Saw" franchise, Hoffman is seemingly the last person alive to carry out the legacy of Jigsaw. However, when his secret is threatened, you must go to the game to remove all the loose ends.

Review: Like the previous sequels and other horror franchises like Touristes and Hostel, the film shows the majority of the "torture" elements. The saw movies have always stressed in the Saw Fans mind because of the motivations of the "villain" and the means with which the "games" are presented. From purely a horror standpoint, the potential victims with a mysterious history to be revealed are shown painful devices before being given an ultimatum to survive, then we are treated to the reality of the anticipation and given more information about the victims. Although it is not really important, but the reasons for them who are being made to suffer are a good substitute.

There will be no really fresh plot synopsis, the film again picks up right at the end of the previous film, and that the surviving characters all return. Since the death of Jigsaw (Bell), FBI agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) has been trying to track down his "other" accomplice. With helper Amanda (Shawnee Smith) also dead, all leads point to Det. Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). New agency head Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston) isn't so sure. In the meantime, as five new players (a fire inspector, a building permit bureaucrat, a trust fund baby/drug addict, an investigative journalist, and a property developer ) find themselves playing a new life or death survival game originally designed for them by the late Jigsaw, Hoffman and Strahm play a game of cat and mouse that only one will survive. But don’t worry, because the secrets of the sixth and reportedly final Saw film are safely in a box which is received by Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill (Betsy Russell).

The Saw sequels have had an obsession with return to previous entries and shows us a "behind the scenes" of the earlier plot and the pitfalls of events. A solid of the picture is made up of flashbacks to previous scenes from the previous films. Without them, there is no way to bring Tobin Bell into the story, so the filmmakers are in a bit of a bind. Therefore, this film is not recommended for people who had never seen the previous sequel.

In general, Saw V has a better image of Saw IV. And although it is far less ambitious, it’s better written and acted to overwrought and absurd Saw I. It's not as good as Saw II and Saw III, but it's a step back from the abyss. It combines teamwork aspect of Saw I, with the group of people trapped in a house from Saw II. Like Saw II, the scenes of group imperilment are more about Funhouse horror traps than prolonged misery and suffering, but this tale is told much better than the disjointed narrative that made Saw II.

MAX PAYNE (2008)

Director

John Moore
Producer
Julie Yorn, Scott Faye, John Moore
Screenwriter
Beau Thorne
Starring
Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Olga Kurylenko, Chris O'Donnell, Donal Logue, Amaury Nolasco, Kate Burton
Studio
20th Century Fox
Release Date
22 October 2008 (Indonesia)

Official website
MaxPaynethemovie.com

Maximum Pain...

Synopsis: A maverick police (Mark Wahlberg) is facing a battle supernatural when it descends into a dark underworld to find those who killed his family and his partner.

Review: "Max Payne," a crime thriller wrapped in a supernatural mystery, was based on a video game. As an adaptation, the Max Payne film is very different from the game in pretty much every aspect besides the tone and the characterizations. John Moore's obvious goal in the film was to match the spirit, tone, and grit of the game. Speaking of violence, there’s plenty of it in Max Payne. Shootings, beatings, torture -- take your pick. But director John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines) wisely alternates these sequences with scenes of verbal and psychological confrontation as well as a few glimpses of those frightening, mysterious valkyries. By no means is Max Payne just thrown together to make a quick buck. It is well made, and well thought out.

Detective Max Payne lives in a dark and dangerous world. Played by Mark Wahlberg in this film adaptation of the popular video game, Wahlberg our morose anti-hero never cracks a smile as Max Payne, a hard-boiled cop right out of pulp novels, a pariah in self-imposed exile in the police basement (where someone seems to have stolen all the lights) who spends most of his time trying to solve the murder of his wife and baby in order to wreak vengeance upon the guilty party. While Wahlberg’s solid performance makes us feel sorry for Max, we also worry about the drastic actions this emotionally wounded man will take when he discovers the villains responsible for the tragic loss of his wife and child. Max’s investigation brings him face to face with powerful forces, nightmarish creatures called valkyries, and a crazed warrior priest who seems to command shadow armies of winged creatures. They could be the personal demons of drug addicts transformed into the literal in a crazed reworking of Norse mythology.


Mark Wahlberg’s action really not failing. Wahlberg delivers a quiet, yet subtle and intense performance in the title role as the most "pain" and "pun" inducing detective of all time. Despite the surreal nature of Max Payne, supporting cast members Mila Kunis, Bridges, Ludacris and Amaury Nolasco also turn in believable turns. Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) endows her character, an assassin who helps Max with his mission, with the right blend of toughness and sexiness in this key role. Mila Kunis as Mona Sax wasn't the best casting in the world, but Mila proves that it wasn't the worst casting either. There isn't as much depth to her in the film as there was in the game. Bridges (The Ballad of Jack & Rose), who was actually playing a character for once instead of himself on screen. lends gravitas to his portrayal of a former partner of Max’s father who now claims “Max is part of the family.” Ludacris (Crash) is completely convincing as a police official hoping to get to the bottom of everything. And Amaury Nolasco (from TV’s Prison Break), who can scared the socks off audience as a huge thug with nothing but violence on his mind.

It was disappointed to find the lack of action sequences. Max Payne is not an action movie at heart. Max Payne is an effective mystery film It is a mystery film with some action scenes (and some very well done visual effects) that is driven by the main character and the exposition around him. It has a great conceptual hook from a director who visualizes better than he dramatizes. Moore creates a vivid fantasy noir world that moves so stylishly is can carry you through all the absurdities by sheer imagery and momentum. The game may have been a shoot 'em up style game, but it is difficult to do this on film and expect to be taken seriously, which Max Payne should be.

Did you know?

* James McCaffrey, the voice of Max Payne in the video game franchise, makes a cameo as the FBI agent that Lt. Jim Bravura introduces to the "real" police officer.

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