MARGARET

Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Alison Janney

Lisa Cohen: I just need to talk to somebody who doesn’t completely misunderstand who I am or what’s going on inside me.

It isn’t easy growing up, no matter who you are and no matter what you have to live through while you’re doing it. Take Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) for instance. She is a 17-year-old girl living on the Upper West Side in New York City. She goes to a private school and comes from a broken home. Her pre-occupations are not unlike any other girl’s her age - she bickers with her family, she wants to lose her virginity, she has opinions about worldly subjects she is only beginning to understand. And she is only just realizing that it is up to her to make sense of her own world when she inadvertently causes a fatal traffic accident. Suddenly, the world makes even less sense than it did just moments earlier.

MARGARET is writer/director, Kenneth Lonergan’s highly anticipated follow-up to his Oscar nominated 2001 feature, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. The film went into production in 2005, when the now 29-year-old star, Paquin, who certainly gives a vibrant and youthful performance, was but 23. It then spent years in turnaround as Lonergan tinkered with the lengthy 3-hour+ runtime, trying to get distributer, Fox Searchlight, to sign off on it. It was scheduled to be released in 2007 but the cut was deemed unreleasable. In the midst of legal battles, Martin Scorsese and his faithful editor, Thelma Schoonmaker came on board to see what they could make of it. Their edit is the official theatrical release and both company and director are apparently happy with the end results.

Indeed all parties should be pleased as MARGARET is an engaging coming of age story. Lisa does not know how to process what she has witnessed and has no idea how to make right what she caused. She looks down every road for solace but constantly runs into walls and subsequently, she begins to act out as a means to make her life about something other than that accident. Perhaps in her own self-destruction, she can eradicate her guilt. If only life were that simple though. If it were, not only would Lisa find a simple path to peace but Lonergan would have found a simpler path to finishing this film. Life allows for things to pass in their own time though and with that, MARGARET needed to take this long to be released. Like Lisa, it too had some growing pains to go through first.

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Beowulf (2007)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Animation

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson, Angelina Jolie

Based on an ancient Scandinavian poem set in Denmark, Beowulf (Winstone) is a mighty hero who arrives to the aid of King Hrothgar (Hopkins) when his royal halls are being constantly plagued by a beast called Grendel. Beowulf wounds the beast without armour and with his bare hands and leaves him to scamper to his mother (Jolie) where he dies. The Danes rejoice but Grendels mother wants revenge and she attacks and kills all of Beowulf's warriors save him. Beowulf now has to finish Grendel's mother too, a task far more challenging than he ever imagined. Her beauty is astonishing and enticing, seductive and luscious, tempting and mesmerising, so much so, that any warrior would willingly give in to her. The movie has been shot on a motion capture technology where simply the motion of the act is captured on film with all other entities such as background and effects being digitally created and added. The visual aspects and special effects may not be all that stunning or ground-breaking, yet the detailing and specifications are spot-on. The movie is a reproduction of the poem with its own pieces of modifications and alterations which make it a good, interesting and action-packed piece of entertainment.

Thumbs up: Good plot execution and adaptation

Thumbs down: Weak special effects and animation

Rating: 7.3/10

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THE IDES OF MARCH

Written by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

Directed by George Clooney

Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman 

and Evan Rachel Wood

Stephen Myers: Nothing bad happens when you’re doing the right thing.

Governor Mike Morris: Is that your personal theory because I can poke holes in it.

George Clooney has been mulling making THE IDES OF MARCH for a few years now. When he first wanted to make it in 2008, he decided to put his plans on hold because of the political climate. The United States were on the cusp of a monumental election and a financial crisis and he did not want to take advantage of either. Three years later though, Clooney and his longtime production partner, Grant Heslov (GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK) think the timing is now right to unveil their political thriller to the voting public. Apparently, it is acceptable to be critical of their government again.

Clooney plays Governor Mike Morris, a seemingly genuine and upstanding gentleman, who is trying to secure the democratic party nomination for the upcoming presidential race. Naturally, nothing is as it seems and it would appear that no one can get to such great heights without stepping over a few people along the way. To get where he is, you also need a crack team behind you and Governor Morris’ includes actors as diverse and talented as Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Evan Rachel Wood. Hoffman is the veteran, Wood is the intern and Gosling is the shiny new guy who is clearly on his way to greater things. In fact, Gosling’s career appears to mirror the position of his character, Stephen Myers. The man is certainly on his own streak and his lead performance here is another that will certainly continue to propel him forward.

THE IDES OF MARCH is a compelling and engaging thriller, despite not bringing much new to the table. Gosling’s Stephen gets caught up in the political crossfire behind the campaign scenes and it becomes a pretty harrowing challenge for him to ensure he still comes out ahead of everyone else. And while Clooney’s execution is smooth and effective, it does cater a little too often to his own political views. Clooney did not want his character to be a republican as he thought the criticism would be too obvious. As a democrat though, he gets the chance to voice all of his platforms on topics as heated as gay marriage and tax incentives for the super rich. Everything he says seems so sensible, the film becomes something of a criticism for all politicians, as if to suggest it could be as easy as he claims if they would just get it together. And while Clooney may not be ready to run for president, he earns my vote for being a top notch film director.

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Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Genre: Drama/Sports

Starring: Hillary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel

Clint Eastwood always has something special on offer and when you have Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank on the same boat, one can expect fireworks. Boxing manager cum trainer cum gym owner Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) has a strong career record behind him and has trained lots of boxing champions. The only kind of people he doesn't train are girls and that is exactly what knocks on his door one fine morning. Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) is a waitress who aspires to be a boxer and insists that only Frankie train him. After refusing too many times, Frankie is forced to give in after being persuaded by his friend and gym janitor Eddie (Freeman). He realises that Maggie indeed has potential and when she consistently knocks out her opponents in the first round. The movie displays the hardships of life that each of the characters is facing in the movie. Each and every one of them learn their mistakes through a different way, react in a different way and get over them in a different. The story that appears to be slow has been crafted and executed in a fine manner which does not make it look as slow. A beautiful movie and some lovely performances make it a smooth as butter watch.

Thumbs up: Fabulous acting

Thumbs down: Maybe some more boxing action?

Rating: 8.0/10

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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Adventure/Drama

Starring (voice): Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Tom McGrath

The hilarious story of four animal friends from the New York zoo who land up in Madagascar, Africa continues. Alex, the egoistic Lion (Stiller), his best friend Marty the Zebra (Rock), Melman the extra-hygienic Giraffe (Schwimmer) and Glorio the Hippo (Smith) are finally hatching a plan to leave Madagascar and go back to NYC for good. However, their make shift and tacky aircraft gives away just after the journey and the entire team find themselves in the heart of Africa, within the Kalahari. The four friends realised that they all came from this exact same place and Alex even meets his real parents. The true challenge comes when Alex has to prove he is a true lion by engaging another lion in combat and securing a place for himself in the pride. Alex has always been a performance Lion and never knew how to fight in combat. The first part of the movie was an ultimate laugh-riot with King Julian (Cohen) stealing the show along with Skipper the Penguin (McGrath) and his team of dim-witted side-kicks. The movie does not entirely fail to live up to expectations but is not exactly as funny either. King Julian and Skipper still entertain but the entire comedy rests solely on their shoulders with almost no support coming from any other character. A good family entertainer and is still worth the watch.

Thumbs up: King Julian all the way

Thumbs down: Not as funny as the earlier movie

Rating: 6.7/10

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SUBMARINE

Written and Directed by Richard Ayoade

Starring Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine

Oliver Tate: I live in a large house with my parents. It has breathtaking scenery. I’m not sure I believe in scenery.

The adolescent mind can sure be a dramatic one and that intensity is played up to hilarious heights in Richard Ayoade’s narrative feature film debut, SUBMARINE. The mind that we are given unadulterated access to belongs to one Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), a 15-year old only boy obsessed with but two things - a girl in his class (naturally) and preventing the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. It his belief that these fascinations and the way he deals with them would make a great film and despite this blatant narcissism, he is actually spot on about that.

Oliver is an unassuming chap. When he speaks, he can barely form a proper sentence without tripping over nearly every word. He watches the people around him while hiding behind corners, all the while fearful that if he doesn’t intervene, they won’t get it right. That said, he rarely speaks up because he does not yet know his own voice, or more specifically, he has not yet learned how to make that voice heard by others. In his own head however, his world is the center of all worlds, typical of most teenagers and sadly, fairly typical of most adults I know as well. And while his problems are hardly unique, it is the way in which Oliver tells his own story that gives them all the importance required to make them seem monumental. 20-year-old, Roberts, is brilliant as Oliver, making him the most memorable angsty  adolescent on film since Jason Schwartzman’s Max Fischer in Wes Anderson’s RUSHMORE.

The actual man behind Oliver’s movie in his mind is Ayoade and the choices he makes in SUBMARINE are inspired and incredibly clever. By constantly drawing attention to the filmmaking process - calling out his shots before they happen, pointing out conventional approaches to storytelling and then carrying out those exact same approaches - Ayoade demonstrates a fine understanding of film language and great ability to make memorable moments. Once you dive in to SUBMARINE, you will not want to surface again.

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Revolver (2005)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/Mystery

Starring: Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore, Andre Benjamin, Terence Maynard

Ego is something which we cannot live with; we all want to win it, build it, garner it and do exactly what it tells you to do. Jake Green (Statham) is a conman who specialises in gaining your confidence and eventually conning you. He serves seven years in prison in solitary confinement where his neighbours was a master conman and a chess master. The chessmaster and conman used to communicate with each other by writing at the back of books on quantum mechanics along with their secret formulas to success. Jake learns of these formulas which can be applied to any game to make the player win against any opponenet under any situation. When Jake gets out of prison he uses this forumla in casinos to quickly make a lot of money and earn himself a reputation of being unbeatable. Dorothy Macha (Liotta) is a crooked casino owner who had once forced Jake to play on his behalf. When all of Jake's winnings mysteriously disappeared, Macha framed him and sent him to prison. Now Jake wants revenge but two loansharks, Avi (Benjamin) and Zach (Pastore) tell him that he suffers from a rare blood disease due to which he would die in three days. They offer to protect him and help him survive for as long as he can in return of all of Jake's money. The movie starts on an extremely promising note and with the reputation of Guy Ritchie riding on it along with Jason Statham, one definitely expects fireworks. However, the movie focusses deeply on ego, greed, power and over-riding the inner thoughts. It gets highly philosophical and starts to represent a very emotion-laden art movie. Its just the end and the philosophical nature of an otherwise good movie that does not make it worth the watch.

Thumbs up: Good promising start, good performances

Thumbs down: Complicated plot, bad ending

Rating: 5.8/10

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