Category Archives: Decades

The decade in which the films were released.

Right at Your Door (2006)

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2007 #67
Chris Gorak | 91 mins | DVD | 15 / R

Right at Your DoorL.A. is hit by a series of ‘dirty bombs’ in this indie suspense thriller, that follows the story of what happens to one man in the suburbs, as well as the various people whose paths cross his.

Mainly based in one location (his home), the film is an effective and suspenseful account of what it’s like to be an ordinary person almost in the middle of such an attack. The frantic early pace does let up a little as the film goes on, but it remains gripping right up to the well-executed twist.

4 out of 5

Mystic River (2003)

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2007 #66
Clint Eastwood | 132 mins | DVD | 15 / R

Mystic RiverThe acting is the main draw of this Oscar-winning murder drama, in which three childhood friends who grew apart are brought back together when one of their daughters is murdered. Tim Robbins is particularly excellent, easily earning his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Unfortunately most of the plot is not far above the standards of your average police procedural show, albeit fleshed out with more insight into the various characters and plot complexities — and, of course, with superior acting from all involved.

4 out of 5

The Woodsman (2004)

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2007 #65
Nicole Kassell | 84 mins | DVD | 15 / R

The WoodsmanKevin Bacon stars in this compelling drama.

If anyone saw Channel 4’s recent Secret Life, this treads very similar ground — recently released paedophile struggles to fit back into the world and avoid recommitting former crimes. But whereas C4’s drama was issue-driven this is character-based; it doesn’t necessarily make it better, but it does make it different. Bacon manages the tricky task of eliciting sympathy and understanding as the paedophile (though perhaps not as much as Matthew Macfadyen did).

A relatively intelligent look at what is usually a mindlessly treated subject.

4 out of 5

Ringers: Lord of the Fans (2005)

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2007 #64
Carlene Cordova | 98 mins | DVD | 12 / PG-13

Ringers: Lord of the FansMade by the people behind the large Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net, you’d expect this documentary to focus itself on Lord of the Rings fandom. To a degree it does, but it also encompasses a history of the books and their popularity, as well as various thematic issues contained within them, and also takes in the various adaptations (though, criminally, doesn’t even mention the BBC radio version).

It’s a bit unfocussed, sometimes coming across as a selection of featurettes strung together with occasionally random linking interviews. There’s stuff of interest in here, but certainly not to everyone — only fans need apply.

3 out of 5

Monster (2003)

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2007 #63
Patty Jenkins | 105 mins | TV | 18 / R

MonsterCharlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers, in this ‘true crime’ biopic. The film focuses on her 9-month relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci, which is also the period in which she killed several men (many of them, especially initially, not undeserving of their fate).

Theron gives a truly transformative performance that, with the obvious aid of the script, helps you understand Aileen, her actions and her motivations, and reveals a lot about her character without resorting to tacky flashbacks or unwieldy info-dumps.

4 out of 5

Ocean’s Twelve (2004)

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2007 #62
Steven Soderbergh | 120 mins | DVD | 12 / PG-13

Ocean's TwelveThis all-star sequel to the 2001 Rat Pack re-make received a thorough slating from critics on release, mainly thanks to its New Wave influences (which are only clear if you’re familiar with said cinematic trend), grittier approach (it’s less shiny-glossy more grainy-film-stock — hardly Bourne-compared-to-Bond gritty), and the feeling that the cast are having more fun than the audience (this one I’ll allow).

Aside from a few steps too far in the final act (such as Julia Roberts playing Tess playing Julia Roberts (funnier if it hadn’t been so specified), and the frankly irritating twist denouement) it’s still a pretty enjoyable film. But it’s true that the first is better.

3 out of 5

Capote (2005)

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2007 #61
Bennett Miller | 110 mins | DVD | 15 / R

CapoteIt is, unsurprisingly, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning lead performance that dominates this movie. While the title might suggest a biopic, the film actually concentrates on the five year period in which Truman Capote researched and wrote his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.

While this process forms the structure of the plot, the title gives away what the movie is actually ‘about’ — in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote’s work process, it’s the character of the man, and how it’s affected, that is really revealed to the viewer (in a subtler way than my blatant highlighting of it here would suggest).

4 out of 5

The ‘other’ Truman Capote movie from the mid-noughties, Infamous, is on BBC Two tonight, Friday 5th June 2015, at 11:50pm.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

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2007 #60
Robert Benton | 100 mins | TV | PG

Kramer vs. KramerThe acting is what shines in this multiple-Oscar-winning custody drama. Troubled wife Meryl Streep leaves husband Dustin Hoffman within the first five or so minutes (today she probably wouldn’t leave ’til the end of the first act) and suddenly busy, work-driven daddy has to look after their young son all on his lonesome.

I personally didn’t find the later courtroom scenes quite as edge-of-your-seat intense as some have, but you can’t fault the abilities of the actors. Perhaps particularly noteworthy is the kid, played by Justin Henry, though clearly it wasn’t good enough to launch a decent career for him.

5 out of 5

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

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2007 #59
Gore Verbinski | 168 mins | cinema | 12A / PG-13

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's EndCurse of the Black Pearl was a surprisingly great film. Dead Man’s Chest was a lacking attempt to recapture that glory. At World’s End is the worst subtitle of all three, but mixed in quality.

The first half hour is great fun, but then it gets weird, adds in hefty doses of over-complex plotting, and drags along fairly slowly until it finds an exciting climax a little late on. It’s not all bad — beautiful to look at, with some of the most impressive CGI ever, and there’re some good action scenes.

In the end it’s the attempts to drag what was an entertaining fantasy action film to the mythological levels of Lord of the Rings that has made both sequels inferior to the first offering.

3 out of 5

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

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2007 #58
Ang Lee | 131 mins | DVD | U / PG

Sense and SensibilityA host of familiar British faces turn up in this Oscar-winning adaptation of the Austen-novel-with-the-name-like-Pride-and-Prejudice-only-not. Fans of any of the following will love this film: Jane Austen, costume drama in general, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet.

For the rest of us, there’s still lots of enjoyment to be had. Austen’s plots may be virtually identical and you might be able to spy the endings almost from the start, but there’s fun to be had getting there. Hugh Laurie’s small supporting role is particularly worthy of mention.

4 out of 5