A Town Called Panic (Panique au village) (2009)

A manic, ADHD suffering, surreal, stop-motion masterpiece, delivered by the team behind the Cravendale Milk ads... from Belgium.

A horse, a cowboy and a red-Indian live together, argue over the shower, order a bazillion bricks, get stuck in traffic, stake out their own walls, do battle with underwater aliens, get abducted by a snowball throwing mega-penguin, and play cards while falling to the centre of the earth. Then things get really strange.

Apparently animated using a tub of plastic toys by a bunch of Ritalin dodging five-year-olds on a Sunny-D bender, A Town Called Panic is not the most coherent of films, but it is brilliantly inventive and frequently ball-achingly funny.

Rating: 4/5

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)

As his first full animation, Tintin may appear to be something of a new departure for Spielberg, but in every other respect, what we have here is a familiar and vintage caper that demonstrates just how easily the Bergster can knock this stuff off in his sleep these days.

The unavoidable comparison that springs immediately to mind is with his Indiana Jones movies: The period setting (not exactly specified, but easily 30s / 40s in feel) bathed in a nostalgic glow,  a globetrotting adventure in search of some lost treasure, voyages by tramp steamer or bi-plane, even a chase through some north-African market streets. Just a quiff instead of a fedora, and the formula is all in place. Now it's fair enough to point out that Raiders and its sequels were hugely inspired by an older generation of serial comic book adventures from the 40s and 50s in which Tintin rightly holds an esteemed place, but seen from a modern filmic perspective, there is a strong sense that we've seen this done before, and in at least some respects, better.

First, the good stuff. Tintin is beautifully animated, in a manner which is rich and detailed, but also retains a touch of period comic-book style which never draws attention but feels just right for this world. There are many stunningly visualised edits between locations, or shifts in time from story to storyteller, that match the very best that Spielberg has ever delivered in his live action movies. There are also several bravura action sequences, all of which are executed with wit and perfect pacing and never feel forced or out of place, and usually come with some charming touches of humour. While some of the broader slapstick moments fall somewhat flat (no pun etc.), just keep watching that dog, often in the corner of the frame away from the main action for some of the most gentle moments of incidental pleasure that the movie has to offer.

However, for me, there's no getting away from the most glaring problem with Tintin, and that's Tintin, the personality vacuum at the centre of the whole enterprise. Utterly devoid of any notable or involving character traits, he functions purely as a nominal protagonist around whom a plot can revolve, but never to whom our empathy may adhere. And speaking of plot, therein lies the secondary failing of Tintin (which sounds like a title for a sequel if ever I heard one). Many adventure stories may rely heavily on a MacGuffin to drive them along, but in the best examples (and again, there's no getting away from the Dr. Jones comparisons here, and all of them unfavourable to the cherub-faced reporter), this is merely a plot device to lead our hero to some greater and more profound end (reconciliation, enlightenment, the saving of a life, or the world, or a little piece of home), but in Tintin the MacGuffin is the whole plot, and so, having been kept pleasantly charmed, if not totally thrilled along the way, I arrived rather unexpectedly at the end, with things much as they were at the beginning.

Beautiful to look at, charming to watch, easy to forget.

Rating: 3/5

Contagion (2011)

A highly efficient medical thriller that lends a solid impression of verisimilitude to the kind of hard science, dangerous politics and social chaos that might accompany a really disastrous pandemic, Contagion goes about its business of scaring the audience into sealed plastic bubbles with a commendable lack of melodramatics. There are perhaps a few too many fractured storylines to really maximise the dramatic impact of the overall narrative, and the somewhat overly starry cast are occasionally in danger of impacting negatively on the documentary feel. As a result Contagion does somewhat give the impression of a TV movie that got lucky with the level of talent involved, but it does what it needs to do with understated yet brutal effectiveness and sets a new high-water mark for the epidemic disaster sub-genre.

Rating: 4/5

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)

Much better than I had hoped. Surprisingly dark and gritty, it feels tonally well placed in relation to the classic 1968 original and is anchored by magnificent performance capture work from, of course, Andy Serkis in the lead ape role. The film has less time for some of its human characters, of whom a couple of cliched supporting turns represent the films' only significant missteps. But these aside this is a solid piece of proper sci-fi with thrills, genuine emotional weight, and a stunning climax that is intense without ever feeling overblown.

Rating: 4/5

Cowboys And Aliens (2011)

Simple comic book adventure mash-up that is precisely as good, and bad, as the title concept suggests. There's little in this to really surprise or thrill. The story is perfunctory and motivations are minimal. But it does have James Bond and Indiana Jones striding around being cool and tough and gruff. Does exactly what is says on the tin.

Rating: 3/5

Super 8 (2011)

Great fun, warm and nostalgic tribute to childhood adventures from a simpler time. Endearing performances, effective slow build of thrills. Not so engaging once the big mystery has been fully revealed, resulting in the final denouement being rather less emotionally impactful than the 80's kids adventure masterpiece it so clearly wants to be. But it delivers plenty of old school charm and thrills along the way.

Rating: 4/5

A Tale Of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) (2003)

Was right with it until the last half an hour. So, she's dead, or was dead, or she's her, and is she also her, or imagining her, and how come she's just turned up for the first and second time and wasn't she her before all along, and wait is this the beginning or the end and... WHAT?


Rating: 4/5

Black Swan (2010)

Black Swan is not really a ballet movie.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a young dancer in a prestigious ballet company, obsessed, as artists often are, with the perfection of her craft, and seemingly also driven by that age-old dramatic staple, the overbearing and overprotective mother. When she is promoted to Prima and has to take on the dual role of darkness and innocence at the heart of Swan Lake, she is pushed by the egotistical and possibly predatory director (played by Vincent Cassel) into exploring a darker, more sexual, more aggressive side of her nature.

Darren Aronofsky has made films about brilliant obsessive types, reaching for perfection and being driven to the point of madness in the past. His latest shares a lot in common with his stunning low-budget debut "Pi". Black Swan may have the big money and a star at its centre, but Aronofsky has lost not a jot of his obsessive intensity.

No movie about ballet, with a melodramatic plot centred around a fragile girl pushed to her limits can avoid comparisons with the legendary ne plus ultra of this micro sub-species, "The Red Shoes". However, while they share a common subject, stylistically this is a very different and altogether scarier proposition. Channelling the arch gothic thrill of Brian DePalma's Carrie, and a whole bunch of Dario Argento 1970s giallo chillers, along with the reality blurring bodily distortions of Cronenberg movies such as The Fly and Dead Ringers, Black Swan gradually builds to a fevered dream of madness and terror and doesn't let up till the credits roll.

So far, so unexpectedly, but entertainingly genre. But unlike many of its forbears, Aronofsky's picture is executed with exceptional art and precision. Close-up hand-held shooting keeping the frame tight in on every player, stripping away the artifice and closing in on the bone-crunching physical intensity of the ballet performances, or prowling the grimy backstage corridors, seeking out every darkened corner or artfully fractured mirror. There are fine performances from Cassel and particularly Barbara Hershey, as Nina's failed dancer mother, in a role that could easily have been grating and false. But at the heart of it all, and the making of the whole enterprise, is a heroically controlled performance from Natalie Portman, easily a career best. She runs the gamut of emotional states in a role which requires pushing them all to the extremes and yet she never hits a false note. Raw, honest, and totally empathetic, it's a miraculous achievement.

An intense, exhausting, brilliant, full-on, operatic, psychological horror. Black Swan is all these things; it's just not really a ballet movie.

Rating: 5/5

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

While Kick-Ass was busy gobbling up the lion’s share of the attention and Daily Mail outrage, there was another genre-bending alt-superhero comedy mash-up last summer that rather slid under the radar, which is a great shame as, while it may not be as in-your-face outrageous, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a more engaging, funny and sprightly movie that mysteriously failed to storm the summer box office in the face of bigger, badder, swearier competition.

A geek’s paradise, Scott Pilgrim is chock full of gamer references, 8-bit soundbites, and teen-rocking wannabee heroics, however what makes it more than the sum if its slacker culture nods and winks is a genuine warmth and affection for its inhabitants and their world. Brit helmer Edgar Wright, who showed he knows a thing or two about game-obsessed overgrown boys in Shaun Of The Dead, tackles his first transatlantic mega-budget project with a breezy lightness; blending together bitter-sweet moments of awkward teen romance, and heart embiggening scenes of rock & roll camaraderie along with the madcap fights, and surreal flights of fancy.

The young cast, headed by eternal dweeb plus ultra Michael Cera, are largely excellent, with quirky but likeable supporting roles given the same care and attention as our eponymous hero. As a teen ensemble comedy it recalls the films of John Hughes, such is the ease with which it takes its outlandishly fantastical premise and grounds it with deft, easygoing character work.

On the minor negative side, the film is rather undisciplined, being about twenty minutes longer than needed, with an occasional repetitious tendency brought on by its own multi-life, game-level structure, and somewhat lacks a solid dramatic shape as a result. But with so many charming, engaging characters and a sharp, witty script overflowing with quotable banter and inventive non-sequitur moments, the movie carries its excess baggage with a light touch and a giddy energy that is hard to resist.

Rating: 4/5