La cité des enfants perdus (1995)

The City of Lost Children is one of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's (Amélie) early films (a collaboration with Marc Caro) and it certainly bears his marks of humour and fantasy. One of the lead actors, Dominique Pinon, appears in nearly all of Jeunet's films.

The story here revolves around the abduction of children from a port town by drones. The one having the children abducted can't dream, so he connects his brain to the kids' brains so that he can participate in their dreams. Ron Perlman's character is out looking for his lost little friend and eventually uncovers this massive plot. The film is saturated with rich villains, colourful children, and high contrast lighting. Oddly enough, Perlman delivers very few lines in barely understandable French.

It's a fun, rather humourous film despite its dark subject, but I found it a little difficult to follow.

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Tickets (2005)

Three master directors give us a collection of short films all set on the same train. The stories are all very unique and give us a flavour of humanity and Europe that we don't often get in film - or as isolated passengers on a train. Very lovely!

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Hugo (2011)

When evaluating a film, I do my best to consider the intent of the filmmaker and their intended audience. I wouldn't hold the characters of this film to the same kind of standards I would in The Thin Red Line for instance. I believe the intent of Martin Scorsese was to tell Hugo's story of loss, imagination, and salvation in children's terms, much as how the book did so. So, the people in the story are more austere or more fat or more tender than they would be in a typical drama. It's also a classic happy ending which is rare these days among the film elite.

Hugo is a beautiful film with outrageous camerawork and flamboyant characters. These drew me into the title character's tragic circumstances and into the era of discovery that was Paris in the 1930s. The despair throughout the film made the ending all the sweeter.

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Dreaming of Julia (2003)

This is not an especially compelling account of the revolution in Cuba. It's told through the eyes of a boy from a middle to high class family who watches the adult scandals pre-revolution and the ultimate disintegration of his family during and after the revolution. I would be more sympathetic if it weren't so boring! The characters try too hard to be colourful and the dialogue is flat.

Beware! It also goes by the name Cuba Libre.

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127 Hours (2010)

Danny Boyle and James Franco tell the gutwrenching tale of an outdoorsman who is trapped with no prospect of rescue in the remote wilds of Utah. It is a formidable film and the final sequences are stellar!

The film lovingly captures the sacredness of life.

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The Future (2011)

I was eager to see what Miranda July would give us after Me and You and Everyone We Know. Sadly, this film disappointed me. It tackles some good ideas, but the characters are just too weird and self-interested that I really didn't care what happened to them. And the talking cat was the worst part of the film -and the strange for the sake of being strange dance July does. Why??!

I guess it incited some emotion from me...

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Heaven on Earth (2008)

This Canadian film explores the dark side of long distance arranged marriage.

Chand leaves her family in India to join her new future husband in a suburb of Toronto. She is quickly resented by her mother-in-law and is viewed as a liability in her new family. Chand copes with the abuse she suffers through fantasy and finds the strength to rise against her oppressors.

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The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the film stating that this film is not based on the gospels, it begs the question: What is this film based on then?

I was both blessed and challenged by the closing 45 minutes of the film where Christ is tempted to withdraw from the cross and enjoy a human life and his ultimate decision not to. The opening two hours were more of an insult to the Christian faith than anything, not because the filmmakers were meaning harm, but because of the shallowness of the screenwriter's understanding of Jesus' message, life and death.

I remember the controversy when this film was released. I've always been intrigued by the concept and, being a Christian, felt it was my duty to give Scorsese and company the benefit of the doubt. But, John the Baptist is depicted as a hippy nudist colony leader and Jesus as a neurotic demoniac. I appreciate that Christ's humanity was emphasized, but his holiness was ignored.

I found it odd too that the North African culture was so prominently displayed rather than attempting to portray anything remotely Hebrew.

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Hoop Dreams (1994)

Clocking in a nearly three hours, this documentary doesn't quit. I didn't take my eyes off the screen the entire time.

Hoop Dreams follows two inner city kids in Chicago over their high school career as they lead their basketball teams to championships and try to catch the eyes of university talent scouts so they can eventually make it into the NBA. The power of the film is the dynamic between each of the boys and their family, their coach, their academics, and their dream of pro basketball.

The film was snubbed by the Oscars, but praised by critics as the best film of 1994. It should have at least taken the Best Documentary category and a nod from Best Picture.

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

While it isn't the most inspiring film of last year, it certainly did not merit the barrage of negative reviews it got. The wildly inventive film keeps its viewers engaged and minds tantalized with great visual tricks.

Doctor Parnassus unwittingly wins immortality from the devil as well as many other prizes, but they only bring him despair. The episode told in this film is more contemporary and his friends try to save him from yet another botched deal with the devil.

The film is both serious in its nature, but too playful to take at all seriously and this might be its downfall - it can't decide what it is. But then again, the film does have a fair bit to say about choice so this demonstrates the quality quite well.

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Inception (2010)

Amazing. Superb. Mind blowing!

Christopher Nolan takes all the money and prestige from his other films (The Dark Knight, etc.) and pumps it into one of the most intelligent and creative films of all time. He also stacks the cast.

New wave criminals steal secrets by hacking victims dreams. They are presented with a challenge that they can't refuse: Hack into a man's dream to plant an idea.

The effects, complex twists, and incredible contemplation on reality, time, and pain raise this film to a higher plane.

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Invincible (2001)

Werner Herzog tells true stories very well. He doesn't let his protagonist become overdramatic thus allowing for the story to be central and the character becomes greater by being less than the issue at hand.

Zishe, a young and simple Jewish blacksmith in rural Poland, becomes famous for his unbelievable strength. He is recruited to come to Berlin where he can be featured as a strong man at a posh night club where singers, dancers and magicians perform. His boss is an occultist who is on the inside with an up and coming National Socialist German Workers' Party. Zishe has to choose whether he will stand against the rising anti-semitism or embrace the fame he quickly achieves.

Sometimes, Herzog, who also wrote the screenplay, seems to be forcing his own interpretation of the story onto the screen than should be allowed, but it works nonetheless. Invincible is a poignant and very unique film, its simplicity being its strongest asset.

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Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Lewis Carroll wrote this story to be made into a film by Tim Burton.

A victorian young woman named Alice is faced with duty when a rabbit distracts her for an instant. Next thing she knows, she is hurdling downwards into Wonderland and speaking with flowers, a dodo and a caterpillar named Absalom. She charms nearly everyone she meets and faces execution before ultimately being the champion.

This is not a children's movie. Burton brings an edginess to the story through darker artistic inspiration - the Queen of Hearts is beheading her subjects after all. The design is jaw dropping. All of the actors (voice and live action) draw you into their madness and desperation.

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Gigantic (2008)

Zooey Deschanel and the young guy from Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood paint the caricature of contemporary irresponsibility in Gigantic.

Luxurious mattress salesman meets quirky heiress. They form a romantic relationship that neither of them really know how it will work - the dizzying reality for many today who reject earlier social norms. The young salesman is also on a list of potential parents to adopted Chinese baby girls.

I can't say I was moved by the film's message of aimlessness as much as I was by Winter Passing or Up in the Air. The story and characters are entertaining (and at times unfortunately crude), but it is difficult to watch two-dimensional people trying to leap into a new dimension.

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L'âge des ténèbres (2007)

This is another brilliant film from Québec's pre-eminent director Denys Arcand. This time he explores fantasy life as opposed to how we pursue career and materialism.

Jean-Marc is a provincial employee in a semi-futuristic and very humdrum, big brotherish Montreal. He pushes paper while his wife cheats on him and his daughters ignore him. Fortunately for him, he fantasizes most of the day of sexual interludes with imaginary women. When his life continues to disintegrate, he starts to take steps towards real fulfillment.

The first real quality of this film is the very clever writing. Arcand doesn't leave a viewer in a very serious mood for long, though some very somber matters surface frequently. The depth of the story and Jean-Marc's character do affect you and cause for reflection.

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Coraline (2009)

This was a disappointment. The animation was super. Some of the dialogue was intriguing. The story however was just boring and difficult to engage with.

Coraline finds a portal to a parallel world where everything in her world is, except they are counterfeits. She has to decide whether to sell her soul to the wicked thing that controls the parallel world or stay in her rather drab real world where her parents are too busy for her.

Some definite potential, but a few miles away from greatness. I drifted off a couple times.

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500 Days of Summer (2009)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows us that he's a greatly versatile and gifted actor by being in every scene in this love/summer movie.

Tom meets Summer and is smitten. Summer is not as smitten, but the two form a relationship that flourishes and then dies. Tom's character, the eyes through which we see the relationship, spends plenty of time in his own altered reality, so the story is not really objectively grounded. Song and film genres are just a couple of the ways that the film enhances the 500 days.

The film recounts their relationship by juxtaposing scenes from the early part of the relationship with ones from the end - an easy way to write turns into a story. For this reason, the editing and effects department deserve commendations for the seamless and vivid account.

It's a great film that everyone (men too) can enjoy - and possibly relate to.

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El Orfanato (2007)

The Orphanage is a horror film from Spain. Fortunately it's not done using traditional gore or violence, but rather a supernatural story line.

A woman moves her husband and son to an old orphanage where she grew up and desires to be a respite home for orphans. The son disappears after some strange behaviour connected to stories from the past. The mother begins a frightful search for her son.

The story is intriguing, on a level like in The Ring, but not very moving, also like in The Ring, because it's just too far out there. El Orfanato does try to explain the events in a rational way, but in the end it's another ghost story  with a twisted ending.

It freaked me out during the show, but I was able to sleep like a baby afterwards without any problem.

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The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

My views on this movie may be biased as I had recurring nightmares about it as I suffered from food poisoning all night after watching it. In a way, the film made me feel ill.

David Bowie carries this oddity on his shoulders. His role is an alien who comes to earth to find water for his desertified planet. He uses his superior knowledge to build superior electronics to make a fortune to accomplish his goal. Meanwhile, earthlings try to take advantage of the well meaning, though easily persuaded alien.

A 70's flick wouldn't be complete without disco, sex, and drugs and this film is a heaping plate full of 70's pop. I wasn't emotionally moved by much of anything, just intrigued by the styles and perceptions in the film. Certainly a classic on such merits.

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8½ (1963)

This is Federico Fellini's masterpiece about a director's personal struggle in making a personal film. Indeed, the film is a joy to watch with all of its animated characters and the escapades between exaggerated real life, memories, and fantasy.

Guido Anselmi is hounded by his producers when he become increasingly reluctant to cast characters and to shoot the film as it's written. At the same time, he is courted by prospective actresses as he tries to salvage his marriage and be true to the many, many women who have impacted his life.

The camera movements are particularly notable as are the superb performances. Shot in striking black and white, most of the women wear bright white outfits and the men are in black. Background conversations echo some of the prevalent themes in Italy in the 1960's too. The film is a slice of time.

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