Director: James Cameron
Release Date: December 16^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Sam Worthington
Running Time: 162 mins
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama/Action

Review by Fraser Green

Director James Cameron has not made a feature film since his world hit in 1997 with Titanic, that took home 11 Academy Awards. Avatar was seen as Cameron’s last life, but quite the opposite has occurred – he is still in tremendous form. The films stars Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens), Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious), Joel Moore (Hatchet) and Giovanni Ribisi (Gone in Sixty Seconds).

A band of humans are pitted in a battle against a distant planet’s indigenous population. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is asked to infiltrate and gain their trust via an ‘avatar’ body of the native people, in order to persuade them to move peacefully without the need of direct engagement so the humans can harvest a mineral worth a fortune back on Earth.

The plot is really very simple in Avatar – move peacefully or be destroyed. Many people will argue that the plot is too simplistic. Well, in all honesty, it is, but James Cameron has managed to make-up for it in almost every other aspect a film could possible have. Even Cameron’s previous films have gone down a similar path, but turned out remarkable, such as The Terminator (1984) and Titanic (1997). This is really a sci-fi drama, with carefully placed action sequences throughout the film that aren’t your conventional ‘shoot em up’ actions scenes, but keeps the entire film interesting building up to its massive battle sequence at the end. The best part about Avatar is, that it is one of the most visually striking films in the history of cinema. Cameron’s magnificent imagination explodes onto the screen, from animals to plants and the greater environment, and his attention to detail is stupendous. Cameron even created a new language for the native population to speak and use as their main form of communication. The simple story that appeals to all ages (which is smart, considering the film’s budget and the type of audience it needs to attract in order to make profit) is surrounded by this truly groundbreaking and visually beautiful world that Cameron has created, really projecting a feeling to the viewers that I have never felt before. It simply takes your breath away and, apart from the mountain explosions, it all looks very, very real. The best scenes are the night-time sequences – words cannot describe how stunning it really is, you have to see for yourself and you learn to respect the effort, time, passion and commitment James Cameron and his crew have put in to bring this revolutionary feature to the screen, and IMAX 3D just made it all the better.

Let’s not forget the cast, they are all fantastic and great to see Sigourney Weaver back in action with Stephen Lang and Giovanni Ribisi playing great villains. Sam Worthington leads the cast very well, and although his accent was questionable at times, this will certainly propel him onto the world stage, likely to become one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood, if not already. Cameron’s script is also solid, despite coming on a bit flat and sudden at the beginning, it all pans out very nicely and is packed with lots of humour. The best part about it is, he has deliberately not made the film complex, which I like – he has shown how to make a long film fantastic, with little story to weight it down, relying on techniques, drama, character and his always brilliant CGI effects to keep the film absorbing. This sounds very familiar…Titanic was a love story on a boat that was three hours long and is still ranked as one of the most expensive films ever made, yet it won eleven Oscars and is still the highest grossing film ever. Huh? James Cameron is a unique director – his drama is superb, as it is wacky and tacky at times but works with great effect, his visuals are groundbreaking and, well, I think you get the picture now. Avatar has very minor problems, as discussed above, just short of perfect, but is one of the best films of the year and an experience you cannot turn down – as you have never had an experience like this ever before!

My Rating: 4 and ½ stars

Director: Shane Acker
Release Date: December 10^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Elijah Wood
Running Time: 80 mins
Genre: Animation
Budget: $30 million

Review by Fraser Green

The new animation from producer Tim Burton is visually wonderful, and that’s about it. The film stars the voices of Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Jennifer Connolly (Blood Diamond), John C. Reilly (Magnolia), Christopher Plummer (Up) and Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, Charlie’s Angels).

A post-apocalyptic nightmare in which all of humanity is threatened. The fate of the world lies in the hands of nine little mechanical humanoid homunculus characters, named only through numbers 1 to 9.

Director Shane Acker helms his feature debut with 9, which is based on his Academy award nominated short animated film of the same name from 2005. For a relatively small budget by Hollywood standards – a modest $US30 million, in comparison, Disney/Pixar’s ‘Up’ cost $US175 million – Acker has managed to create a world that is quite astonishing. This is a film that is visually striking and wonderfully creative, but doesn’t have much else going for it. The film’s idea, visual tone and motive – as well as its rating – indicates that it is not primarily a kids film, despite being an animation, but the ‘dumbed-down’ script and thin plot makes it seem like it is. This is the key problem – it simply cannot make up its mind! The ambiguous start and overtone of the film leads the audience to think that a deep and compelling story is about to unravel, but it never eventuates – it’s merely a ‘lets save the world’ flick that tries to turn sophisticated at the end, after being filled with action sequences that lead from one situation to the next. The action sequences are very well directed by Acker I must say, but still fail to save the film from its flaws. It is also severely lacking in humour, making it very dull to listen to. The only aspect making 9 worth watching is simply feasting your eyes on Acker’s imagination – the animation, considering its budget, is so creative and visually compelling. Other than that, not much else keeps the viewer interested.

My Rating: 2 stars

Director: John Carpenter
Year: 1981
Actors: Kurt Russell and Donald Pleasance
Running Time: 99 mins
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Review by Fraser Green

John Carpenter’s Escape From New York is nothing more than a dark and dusky futuristic sci-fi action thriller that’s only premise is to entertain – and does it accordingly. Kurt Russell brings his character alive, with probably one of the best names ever to have appeared on cinema screen – ‘Snake Plissken’.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: John Carpenter
Year: 1996
Cast: Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Pam Grier, Peter Fonda and Bruce Campbell
Running Time: 101 mins
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Review by Fraser Green

John Carpenter’s long-awaited sequel to his 1981 hit is nothing more than a face-lift of the original, with much of it being exactly the same as Escape From New York. Oh wait, sorry, there are some differences – it is set in Los Angeles this time round, and Kurt Russell is 15 years older. So original.

My Rating: 1 star

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Release Date: December 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Jesse Eisenberg
Running Time: 88 mins
Genre: Comedy/Horror
Budget: $23.5 million

Review by Fraser Green

Zombie films generally tend to be very funny on their own as they always have a sense of ridiculousness to them, but when they are intended to be a comedy, rather than a horror film, they are even better, as with the horror/comedy ‘Zombieland’. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland), Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men, Natural Born Killers) and Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day).

“Zombieland” focuses on two men (Jesse Eisenberg & Woody Harrelson) who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies.

Fun, comedy and plenty of blood and gore don’t get much better than this relatively small genre. Back in 2004, Shaun of the Dead proved that the horror/comedy zombie genre is one that can be used with wonderful effect. Now it’s America’s turn, and they are on par with the similar British film in terms of quality and humour, but you can obviously tell that it is a Hollywood film. The two very different lead characters drive the film and lay the groundwork for it’s interest, one being a control-freak nerd who has sets of rules to survive ‘Zombieland’ – Jesse Eisenberg – and the other who looks like your typical big bad-boy, but is determined to find a twinkee at any cost – Woody Harrelson. The script is solid, it is frequently funny and well executed in the hands of director Ruben Fleischer, who has made his feature film debut, keeping ‘Zombieland’ clearly light-hearted, while mixing in plenty of cool camera shots, including appropriate slow-motion and lots of blood and gore to please fans of the genre – both comedy and horror genres. This is a film that can be watched by one-self, with a group of friends and more than once.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Ethan and Joel Coen
Release Date: November 19^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Michael Stuhlbarg
Running Time: 105 mins
Genre: Drama
Budget: $7 million

Review by Fraser Green

Ethan and Joel Coen, the two masterminds behind No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading, continue their hot form with A Serious Man, blending dark humour with, believe it or not, seriousness. The film stars Michael Stuhlbarg (The American Experience), Richard Kind (Bewitched), Fred Melamed (Silk Stalkings), Sari Lennick and Aaron Wolff.

A black comedy set in 1967 and centred on Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife (Sari Lennick) prepares to leave him because his inept brother (Richard Kind) won’t move out of the house.

The film is loosely based on the Jewish biblical story of ‘Job’, which has been translated to a modern 1967 American setting, creating the links with the element that the main characters are of Jewish background. To the general person, however, this film is a story about life, asking questions about morality, faith and bad luck that vibrate under the surface of this engrossing motion picture in which the Coen brothers cleverly surround and depict through dark humour. For some people, I can understand why someone cannot bring themselves to like this film, as the Coen brothers are more of an acquired taste, but am definitely a fan of their work and this flick was no exception – the directing duo deliberately leave questions unanswered to invoke personal opinion about the themes mentioned above, especially after their trademark ending, which is a unique feature of Ethan and Joel’s filmmaking. The actors in the film are also fantastic, with Michael Stuhlbarg taking command in the lead, having a great script to work with. As mentioned previously, there is a lot of dark humour in a film that has a lot of seriousness to it, but works so effectively through the direction of the Coen’s. Despite being a little too beyond belief at times, it is based on a biblical story, which is obviously driven by superstition.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release: 2000
Cast: Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle and Dennis Quaid
Running Time: 147 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven) pulls off an incredibly powerful film about three intertwining stories exploring drug trafficking between the United States and Mexico, that is stupendously acted with a great script, however it is very slow in its progression and, as a result, doesn’t keep a firm grip on the audience’s attention making it somewhat difficult to fully understand the complex story at times.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Release: 2009
Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard
Running Time: 124 mins
Genre: Thriller

Review by Fraser Green

Orphan is an engrossing, clever, well acted and gripping thriller with some very unsettling sequences intended to make the audience feel uneasy and really feel for some of the characters/victims in the film. However, it loses points for its clichéd ending, moderate predictability and its length – two hours plus is much too long for a thriller such as this, but you will still find yourself completely immersed. Hopefully…

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Oren Peli
Release Date: December 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Katie Featherson
Running Time: 86 mins
Genre: Horror
Budget: $15,000

Review by Fraser Green

Finally!! It’s here! I managed to get into a Halloween preview screening and, it is a proper horror film which I would gladly rank as one of best horror flicks of all-time – no violence and extreme suspense. The film stars Katie Featherson, Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs.

After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.

Made on a budget of just $US15,000 – to put in contrast, the latest Harry Potter (Half Blood Prince) was made on a budget of $US250 million, even ‘Saw VI’ was made for $US11 million – director Oren Peli has created something quite unreal. Much like the form of a Hitchcock film as one of my mates pointed out after the movie, it builds up to a freakish ending. Also like the Hitchcock film The Birds, it has no music. The actors are great and the suspense has been turned up to maximum, relying on the atmosphere to get it scares rather conform to violence and gore and techniques in horror films that are long since overused and clichéd – this is in a league of its own. The film also has plenty a good humour, as strange as that might seem. Much like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, it is made in the sense that everything that happened actually happened, and we are watching something that is real. You have to see this and experience it for yourself – for the first time ever I’ve been to see a film in the cinemas and have heard screams throughout the audience. This is an A-grade horror movie, which is masterfully suspenseful.

My Rating: 4 and ½ stars

Director: Kevin Greutert
Release Date: October 22^nd, 2009
Lead Actor: Costas Mandylor
Running Time: 90 mins
Genre: Horror/Mystery
Budget: $11 million

Review by Fraser Green

Another year on and another Saw film has been made, however this new installment in an improvement on ‘Saw V’. The film stars Costas Mandylor (Saw IV, Saw V), Tobin Bell (The Quick and the Dead, Saw), Betsy Russell (Tomboy), Mark Rolston (The Departed), Peter Outerbridge (The Wrong Man, Land of the Dead) and Shawnee Smith (The Island).

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood.

Kevin Greutert has taken over the helming duties, marking Saw VI as his feature debut. There is more of a story to this film, which was only isolated in Saw V and not as interesting. Although I managed to guess some of the plot details, the film remained interesting, despite a flimsy script, as it further dives into Jigsaw’s back story and that of Hoffman. All of the ‘horror’ aspect seems to have been completely drained out of this franchise, but it continues as an excessively violent mystery series, answering loose ends left from the previous film, and creating more paving the way for a seventh installment – the plan from LionsGate is to continue the series up to Saw VIII. The film still isn’t as good as Saw or Saw II, but it is certainly an improvement on the previous film showing cleverness throughout and making the games as grisly as always, which will please most fans of the series. I must say, that the final shot of the film is a keeper, and a great one to finish on for what is still seen as a ‘horror’ film. You’ll understand when you see it.

My Rating: 3 stars

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date: October 1^st, 2009
Lead Actor: Benicio del Toro
Running Time: 120 mins
Genre: Drama/War

Review by Fraser Green

The first part of Steven Soderbergh’s (Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen, Erin Brockovich) epic account of the iconic Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is one not to be missed. The film stars Benicio del Toro (Sin City, Traffic), Demian Bichir (Weeds), Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) and Vladimir Cruz.

In 1956, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio Del Toro) and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.

This film is s well made by Steven Soderbergh – his techniques and staging of sequences make you feel really involved with the movie and the characters in it, and the action scenes are realistic and tense. Benicio del Toro dominates his role as the famous iconic revolutionary “Che” Guevara, who put the good of the common people before anyone else. The film is reinforced by flashing back-and-forward by a few years when ‘Che’ travels to the US as an ambassador of the new government to hear his political opinions, views and beliefs – it gives the story that extra kick of interest, and provides a reason (even though it doesn’t need one) to why we are watching the movie in the first place. Using Spanish as the main dialogue works very well, giving it that extra authenticity with a great cast line-up of actors that actually look South American, probably because they are, instead of using a series of Hollywood actors! Although the film is slow, it is excellent and very interesting (for me anyway), giving the audience a respectable grasp on the Revolution, even though they may not know anything about it (like me)!

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date: October 1^st, 2009
Lead Actor: Benicio del Toro
Running Time: 135 mins
Genre: Drama/War

Review by Fraser Green

The second half of Steven Soderbergh’s epic biopic is still technically striking, but isn’t as absorbing as it immediate predecessor. The film stars Benicio del Toro (Traffic, Sin City, Che: Part One), Carlos Bardem (Dance With the Devil), Demian Bichir (Weeds) and Joaquim de Almeida (Behind Enemy Lines).

In 1967, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio del Toro) leads a small partisan army to fight an ill-fated revolutionary guerrilla war in Bolivia.

Upon starting to watch this film, you are expecting it to commence immediately after the previous finished, but it doesn’t. It jumps to long after ‘Che’ has returned from his diplomatic venture to the United States, which gave the first film so much more to work with, and this is simply just a narrative of ‘Che’ last days when he tried to spread the Revolution beyond. Although Soderbergh has still made this with brilliance, arguably more so than Part One in terms of technicality, the missing segment that was evident previously doesn’t seem to make it as absorbing. This is still a very good film – Benicio del Toro once again gives a mesmerising performance as ‘Che’, as well as great support from the rest of the cast, and it a great sequel to this informative biopic. It possesses all the right ingredients that were used in Part One, except for something to give it that little more interest, referring of course to ‘Che’ in the United States as an ambassador.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Laurence Olivier
Year: 1955
Lead Actor: Laurence Olivier
Running Time: 162 mins
Genre: Drama/Historical

Review by Fraser Green

This production of Richard III is interesting, clever and well-handled by director Laurence Olivier. Also taking the lead role, Olivier is riveting as Richard, Duke of Gloucester, dominating the screen as the character is intended to do, but the film’s length loses the interest of the audience, and the additional language makes it hard to use as supplementary study material.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Roger Mitchell
Year: 2004
Lead Actor: Daniel Craig
Running Time: 99 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, Enduring Love is well filmed by Roger Mitchell (Notting Hill), but it diverts away and changes too much from the compelling story that exists in the book, resulting in a relatively short, uninteresting and rushed film that is merely a mindless jumble. Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake) does the best he can with the material available, but loses grip on his performance towards the end.

My Rating: 1 and ½ stars

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Year: 1966
Lead Actor: Paul Scofield
Running Time: 120 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Although it omits the famous key role of the character of “The Common Man”, this film manages to overcome this problem by keeping the audience fascinated throughout, and effectively gets Robert Bolt’s message across to the audience without being preachy. Very well structured by director Fred Zinnemann, and the additional scenes work to the film’s advantage.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Elia Kazan
Year: 1951
Lead Actor: Marlon Brando
Running Time: 122 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

This film adaptation of the famous play by Tennessee Williams is smartly directed by Elia Kazan considering the materials available. The actors, headed by Marlon Brando (The Godfather) and Vivian Leigh (Gone With the Wind), make the film absorbing and very thought provoking, staying true to the original play.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Paul McGuigan
Release Date: 27^th August, 2009
Lead Actor: Chris Evans
Running Time: 111 mins
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Review by Fraser Green

This thinly developed actioner about people with various telekenetic powers doesn’t live up to the hype the trailer made it out to be. The film stars Chris Evans (Sunshine, Cellular), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond), Camilla Belle (10,000 BC) and Cliff Curtis (Die Hard 4.0, Sunshine).

Two young Americans (Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning) with special abilities must race to find a girl in Hong Kong before a shadowy government organization called ‘Division’ reaches her first, to prevent ‘Division’ from performing any more tests on her that has resulted in death of previous participants.

Let me start by saying, I fell asleep for about 10 minutes of this film – that may give you an idea on how bored I was with it. It was formulaic and treads very familiar ground with the ‘X-Men’ series, in which the Hong Kong setting doesn’t cover up at all. The characterisation is thin, the back-story is brief and poorly set-up and the film then focuses too much on the plot which ends up being convoluted and inefficient. To add on top of this, the script doesn’t offer much, but actors Chris Evans and Djimon Hounsou do their best with the material they’ve got. Paul McGuigan’s directing is messy, so is the editing of the film and the music doesn’t fit at all. The only real positive for the film is that it avoids conforming to many Hollywood films of this type, as it does not overload on action scenes, but instead makes them something good to watch – apart from the muddled direction of McGuigan. Other than that and a couple of the performances (considering the material they have to work with), this film is a bore. It seems McGuigan has a liking to convoluted plots, which was evident with his last film “The Wrong Man” (called “Lucky Number Slevin” in the U.S.), but it was well executed that time round, yet fails drastically in this.

My Rating: 1 and ½ stars

Director: Pete Doctor (co-directed by Bob Peterson)
Release Date: September 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Edward Asner
Running Time: 85 mins
Genre: Animation/Comedy

Review by Fraser Green

I don’t know what it is about these two companies, but Disney & Pixar have yet again managed to put together another a fantastic film for their 2009 release feature, being marked as easily the best animation this year. The film stars the voices of Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer (National Treasure, A Beautiful Mind) and Bob Peterson (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.).

By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl Frederickson (Edward Asner) sets out to fulfil his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell (Jordan Nagai), a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Director Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson have executed this animation right to the finest detail, making it as adventurous as ever while keeping a quite touching side to the story evident throughout the film. It is frequently funny and very absorbing, with a strong script to support the great characters in the film. There isn’t a whole heap to say about this, other than it is fun, adventurous, emotional and very humorous – the best animation of the year (as Disney/Pixar films always are), and this would’ve been aided by the fact that the producers didn’t give away too much in the trailers for the film, which many animations from other companies do, and when it comes to watching the movie, the audience has already seen the hot-spots. Although it’s not my personal favourite from the Disney/Pixar collection, it is certainly up there with the best and definitely one to buy when it comes out on DVD.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Joe Wright
Release Date: September 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Robert Downey Jr.
Running Time: 108 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Based on the true story by the lead character, The Soloist is a very charming and absorbing story to watch develop on screen, but other aspects of the film detract from this great plot. The film stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Zodiac), Jamie Foxx (Collateral, Ray), Catherine Keener (Synecdoche, New York, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest).

A Los Angeles journalist, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) befriends a homeless Julliard-trained musician, Nathanial Ayers (Jamie Foxx) while desperately looking for a new article for the paper.

This is a really great story – it has happiness and emotion, and I was surprised I became so absorbed in the story considering that I don’t have a spice for films of this nature, about musicians. Downey Jr. and Foxx completely mesmerise their roles and really keep the film going when it seems to detract from the interesting plot into the small, undeveloped romantic progress between Downey Jr. and Catherine Keener’s character. It also seemed to be quite uninteresting when the film went into ‘flashback’ mode, describing Nathanial’s past, which I can see is an important part of this true story, but didn’t fit right for me. The film also raises some questions about morals relating to treatment for the mentally ill, and it gives a good look at the change in character of Lopez who is established quickly and very well at the beginning of the film. Other then some of those scenes that could’ve probably been removed completely, this is a very interesting film to watch and the relationship between the two leads is absorbing.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Brad Anderson
Release: 2004
Lead Actor: Christian Bale
Running Time: 97 mins
Genre: Thriller/Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Although this treads familiar ideas with Fight Club, it remains an original and enthralling story that keeps you guessing and talking right up until the last minute. A competently made psychological thriller and Christian Bale puts on a very good performance looking very ghostly weighing just 55kg.

My Rating: 4 stars