Gomorra (2008)

Gomorrah can be likened to a less visually stunning Italian City of God. Kids entering mob gangs in Naples - how they are initiated, how the gangs are accepted in the communities, and the trauma on members and the community. It's worth watching.

Accidents Happen (2009)

It tries to be funny, but it really isn't. Some tragedy mixed with 80s sitcom level humour. No one who watched this with me thought this was remotely enjoyable.

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Ah! The overly dramatic dramas from the 50s! A reputation is on the line in this scandal layered story of a media tycoon and his flunky who is starting to develop a conscience. This is one of the great films that set a standard for morally ambiguous, down and out protagonists trying to do right. Plus it stars Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

This could be my favourite of the 9 films nominated for 2012 best picture. The visuals, the grittiness, the supreme performance of the little girl lead, the presence of the fantastical, the music... it's all so good. A fractured family living in The Bathtube - an anarchic society outside New Orleans who live on little islands unprotected by a levee - face flooding and the little girl gets to experience survival in a community of poverty, but also very alone. Just a gorgeous film - watch it if you haven't already.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Wes Anderson's latest fable is set in the 1960s on a fictional island off the coast of Massachusetts. The hero is a foster boy at a summer camp for boys who has fallen in love and has planned an elaborate escape for him and his melancholic girl. The police (Bruce Willis), campers (Edward Norton, parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), and social services (Tilda Swinton - who they always call Social Services) chase them down.

There is tons of humour, vulnerability and style. One of Anderson's best.

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Rabbit Hole (2010)

This play adaptation plunges viewers into parental grief. The acting is superb and not surprisingly, the dialogue is rich and layered.

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The Pool (2007)

The Pool is a gracious look at the severe class divisions in India. A hotel worker becomes infatuated with a wealthy family's pool and then the family itself. The relationship between the two parties grows and understanding starts to form.

I quite enjoyed it, mostly because the poorer characters were so interesting and risk-taking.

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Saint Ralph (2004)

Not a great movie - I wanted to see it since it was about a marathoner (albeit fictional) and it's Canadian - how bad could it be? It is quite contrived, poorly acted, but not without some charms.

Ralph is in high school and his mother is dying. He wants a miracle, so he prays to the saints, decides he needs to work on his faith and decides he'll win the Boston Marathon... And there are a few laughs too.

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Deep Water (2006)

Deep Water is such a compassionate account of a cornered man who disgraces himself. This documentary follows a competitor in a solo yacht circumnavigation of the globe back in 1968. It is a gripping story told with passion and balance. Highly recommended.

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Happy Feet Two (2011)

We took our kids to see this over spring break as it was a cheap deal and didn't appear to be too scary for our young. They enjoyed it - though my daughter did get scared at one point.

They film seemed typical in its humour and quite glittery in its animation and I enjoyed it except for the the niggling I had for the first 90% of the film when the plankton were discussing existentialism. I disagreed with much of what appeared to be the one's conclusion, but was surprised and pleased with the conclusion.

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Revanche (2008)

This Austrian film takes a look at entitlement through the lenses of a thief and a childless mother. The two stories converge on one event where a police officer kills the theif's girlfriend as they flee a crime; the officer's wife has no kids. The thief retreats to the country to help his grandfather with preparations for the winter. While he's there, he plots his revenge on the officer.

I had trouble empathizing with any of the characters except the officer and the grandfather as they seemed to exhibit the most natural types of emotions. The others thought they deserved more than what life had dealt them. The film has a wonderful ending though and the pace is enjoyable.

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Fair Game (2010)

Here is an important movie making personal the effects of overreaching political power, namely the Bush/Cheney administration. Fair Game is the true story of CIA operative Valerie Plame who is outed by the administration when her recommendations are contrary to what the executive branch demands. By publicizing her name, her covert (and noble) operations put in jeopardy and she becomes a target of hawk Republicans.

The film is upsetting on multiple levels, but the most troubling is the fact that Mrs. Plame and her husband are not able to defend themselves in any arena. Top notch acting from Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

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Lovers in a Dangerous Time (2009)

I really enjoyed this Canadian indie romantic comedy drama - a lot of qualifiers, but the more something resembles real-life, the more it's going to reflect all of these. The film stars the same pair who wrote and directed the feature and according to DVD extras, it took three years to complete the project - which is set over a summer and fall in the small mountain town of Creston, BC.

A young woman returns to her hometown for a class reunion, but more to see her old best friend from high school. The two buddies spend time resolving personal struggles and awkward mutual attractions.

The realism in the movie (the actors aren't super gorgeous, the situations appear natural, the tension is not overdone and complex) brings a certain humility to the characters, reflecting the Canadian trait of being self-effacing. I hope the filmmakers get another shot at making another great film.

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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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For What it's Worth, Milk a Goat (2012)

I really shouldn't be reviewing my own film, so instead I'll share my sentiments on my little production. It took four years to complete from the filming in 2007-8 in Guatemala and the segments filmed in New Brunswick in summer 2009 to the logging of footage in 2010 and the final edits of spring 2011. Justin Jeffery contributed some wonderful piano music to accompany the film. Angus McLean gave me a hand with recording the narration. Danny Bourque and my father helped with the translation into French.

I submitted the 72 minute feature documentary to six festivals, but it wasn't accepted into any of them, so I premiered it myself on March 3, 2012 with friends and family. I've just released it online here.

My favourite aspect of the film is that it is very sensitive in its treatment of birth, death, and the remarkable attachment that I had with keeping goats. Several people have told me how moved they were by the burial scene because it was so raw.

I also love the one liners my 2-yr-old son delivers throughout the film, unprovoked and unrehearsed.

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Barney's Version (2010)

Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical book is performed by Paul Giamatti and some lovely ladies. The story tells of Barney, a TV producer in Montreal, the women of his life and how he loses them. He is riddled with faults and still draws a lot of empathy because of his fierce love and honest confessions.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, mostly due to the emphasis on character, but also for the rich dialogues throughout.

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Divorzio all'italiana (1961)

Since the Roman Catholic Church forbids divorce, the only way to get out of a marriage is the either the unfaithfulness or death of one's spouse. When Ferdinando falls in love with his nubile cousin, he devises a ploy to get out of his marriage.

The film is quite clever in its portrayal of the very inept Ferdinando and we are completely flabbergasted that his cousin falls for him and at the grossly inept Italian justice system. But we laugh a lot thanks to ingenious acting.

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Dare mo shiranai (2004)

Nobody Knows is loosely based on true events of four children who are abandoned by their mother in Japan. The siblings are cared for by the oldest as they manage to elude discovery by the outside world. This is a very sad story, making the plight of abandoned children around the world more accessible as it is set against a first world backdrop.

Children need to be loved.

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The Two Escobars (2010)

When I saw the opening credits state that this was an ESPN Film, my hopes dropped. Wow! Was I ever impressed. This documentary chronicles the lives of two of Columbia's most prolific men: Pablo Escobar the drug lord and Andrés Escobar the soccer star and the amazing symbiotic relationship they both had with their nation and each other.

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Blaise Pascal (1972)

As my son is named after this theologian/philosopher/scientist, a work buddy lent me this made for TV bio-pic, now a part of the Criterion Collection. The production is both elaborate in its sets and costumes, and yet quite simple in its script. The film essentially follows Blaise Pascal from his late teens through to his death giving him opportunity to speak some of his writings out loud and with props. There is little story or character development. In fact the setting draws the viewer in most as we are exposed to Catholic politics, scientific rivalries, provincial taxation, and superstitions.

The movie is slow, but full of Pascal's genius, so it's well worth the 2+ hours of view time.

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