The Camden 28

I saw this film as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and two of the 28 people prosecuted for conspiracy, burglary and other offences in Camden, New Jersey at the time of the Vietnam War were present in the Camden Picturehouse to tell the tale.

The Camden 28 were a group of anti war activists (pacifists all) who included Catholic priests and centred on a Catholic Church in a poor city in New Jersey. They decided to take an existing campaign of civil disobedience one step further. Other groups had publicly burned draft cards and been imprisoned. This group decided to invade the Draft Board above the Post Office in Camden and seize and destroy the draft records for that area. This would stop local boys being called into the army and being sent to Vietnam.

However, one of the number betrayed them to the FBI and when they implemented the plan they were arrested in the building. It was claimed afterwards that the betrayer had been paid and was acting on the instructions of the White House, and the Attorney General. When the case went to court they were all acquitted.

The film was financed by private donations and although was really more of a documentary than a drama, this held my attention because it contained mainly interviews with the participants (including the betrayer).

My rating: 7/10

Amazing Grace

A well intentioned disappointment. Tapping into the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire this film was supposedly about the motivation of Wilberforce as the leading light in the campaign. However, it was too much of a muddle. There was too much of individual characters filling in a great deal of background rather than allowing the plot and the visuals of the film demonstrating it. So William's wife to be discourses on methods by saying ' Yes, I refused to take sugar in my tea, and oh here is my button which says - Am I Not a Human Being and A Brother?' There was too little context - it didn't show the depth and breadth of the mass movement of support. I didn't get the excitement or drama of the speeches made in the House of Commons - and can I just ask how on earth did the Duke of Clarence come to be in the House of Commons? Surely a Lord if ever there was one! I got no real sense of the horrors of slavery and how he was convinced of the evilness of the trade.
Finally, although Wilberforce was motivated by religion I got absolutely no sense of his spirituality and conviction nor of the depth of belief that drove the whole movement.
Rating - only 6/10

The Good German

George Clooney stars in another black and white movie. This time it is a homage to the films noir of the 1940s and 50s. It uses the techniques and equipment used in the post war period, and although this is initially somewhat limiting as the film progresses I have to admit it is a success and adds to the atmosphere of the piece.

This is the tale of an American war correspondent who was based in Berlin in 1939 and is now returning to cover the Potsman Conference. He is rapidly drawn into the murky world of the emerging cold war. The American military are engaged in conflicting needs - the de-nazification and punishment of the German nation on the one hand and a desperate need to get control of German expertise, brains and industry before the Soviets before the Iron Curtain descends.

I admired this attempt to get into the world created as a result of total defeat and social breakdown - and the black and white filming helped to create the mood of desolation and despair, with everyone trying to survive and make a future for themselves - through the blackmarket or by selling whatever they have - their ideas, stolen goods, bodies or their relatives. I was pretty impressed by this film, but it didn't quite have the impact I would have wanted, and the plot was marginally confused and complicated.

Worth seeing though - especially if you're a fan of the post war movies. My rating: 8/10

Dreamgirls

Jennifer Hudson is the real star of this show - forget Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Beyonze, this woman is the real singer - it has been a long time since I've heard a cinema audience applaud but it happened at the end of one of her torch/soul songs in this movie.

The film is very vaguely based on The Supremes and Motown (although I gather it lacks the approval of Diana Ross). I enjoyed the music immensely (especially the songs performed by Jennifer Hudson - I gather a winner of the American Idol competition. There is a problem though - it can't make up its mind whether it is a film with songs (quite legitimate as it is about the rise of a singing trio and the music industry's development) or if it is a traditional musical. About half way through normal conversations were replaced with sung dialogue, which was a bit laughable at times. The movie did have some interesting things to say about the relationship between black musicians and mainstream music production and audiences (by which I mean white of course - because that was where the money was). Again the film has a confused message - it isn't clear what it is trying to do or say, and as a result I don't think many in the audience got all that they might out of a film which clearly is trying to make a point.

My rating 6/10

Hot Fuzz

I must be getting old. This film is currently doing big business in the UK box offices and on the BBC film reviews pages the reviewer gave it 4 out of a possible 5 stars, whilst the viewers rating was 5 stars (on the basis of 5000 or more votes). I really couldn't rate this more than 2 stars. I know it is intended as one long spoof of many film genres, and clearly the cast and the directors were enjoying themselves incredibly, but I couldn't raise much of a laugh. The jokes are done to death, the film is about an hour too long, and the last hour seemed to be tagged on just for the entertainment of the cast. It is a tale of a London supercop who is sent to a sleepy village where he discovers the entire population is under the thumb of a sinister neighbourhood watch committee. This is an excuse for a series of parodies of Hammer Horror films, and any other film you can think of. The cast contains every possible British actor who has ever worked on TV or film - Timothy Dalton, Steve Coogan, Edward Woodward, etc, etc, but why did they bother I wonder. My rating? 4/10 Clearly this film wasn't aimed at me!

The Illusionist

What a totally brilliant film this is! It has excellent acting, a good cast, lots of suspense, mystery, history, political intrigue and a terrific twist in the tail (which I am not going to give away).

This is the story of a poor magician (the illusionist) of Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century who has a remarkable show. In his youth he fell in love with an aristocratic girl who then became the fiancee of the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Emperor is now very old and the Crown Prince is eager for power. The magician and his childhood sweetheart are re-united when the royal party visit the show and she is volunteered to take part in one of the illusionist's magical deceptions.

Murder, mayhem and contoversy follow. In the end the film turns out to be another explanation of the tragedy at Mayerling. I'll say no more about the plot!

Wonderfully filmed and well directed, my only criticism is the odd anachronism in the language and etiquette used. The Austro-Hungarian court was the stuffiest and most protocol ridden in Europe (and that's saying a lot) and I'm certain the Emperor would never have been called 'your father' by every passing servant and police officer.

My rating: 9/10

The Company

I saw this film as part of the Robert Altman retrospective being staged at the Greenwich picturehouse. The only problem is that the more of his films I see the less impressed I am by him as a director - Gosford Park was shown on TV last evening and it reminded me how messy the film is. I digress - The Company is about a Chicago ballet company for a few months going through the production of a new ballet. It looks at some members of the company - some who are rising stars, others are in decline or being eclipsed.
Malcolm McDowell is the artistic director - and produces a tour de force of a depiction of egomania. The film certainly portrays the fragility of the career of a dancer - an injury can end their working life in a moment - and how relationships outside the world of dance are very difficult to maintain. In the lead up to a production the intensity and concentration on the production of perfection excludes consideration of anyone outside the focus of and aim of this one performance.
This is all well done - but like most Robert Altman's films, it lacks coherence, it is muddled and the characters are not developed enough to engage - they are cardboard or stereotypical.
My rating? 6/10

Top Ten Films

Recently I had two sets of 'top ten films of 2006' sent to me. They were from America, so many weren't shown in 2006, and some still haven't been shown in the UK. However, I'm going to try to do a similar list of my own.
Anyone want to contribute.
Here are the two lists I've had:

(1)Little Miss Sunshine (2) Inside Man (3) Bobby (4) The Queen (5) Babel (6) Tsotsi (7)Venus (8) The Last King of Scotland (9) Off the Black (10)Ten Items or Less

(1) The Queen (2) Little Miss Sunshine (3) The Last King of Scotland (4) Letters from Iwo Jima (5) The Good Shepherd (6) Babel (7) The Children of Men (8) Inside Man (9) The Illusionist (10) Bobby

And my list for the 2007 films I've seen so far is:

(1) Notes on a Scandal (2) Letters from Iwo Jima (3) The Queen (4) The Lives of Others (5)Days of Glory (6) Mr Bean's Holiday (7) Jezebel (8) Venus (9) Bobby (10) A Prairie Home Companion

Becoming Jane

Supposedly the story of Jane Austen's early life and an explanation of the writing of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy (who seems to be appearing in everything at the moment).

A captivating movie, and oh such a good depiction of upper class life at the cusp of the eighteenth & nineteenth century. Engaging, but how accurate was it about Jane Austen? For a start the rare portraits of the author don't indicate anything other than 'plain Jane'. Julie Walters as her mother and Ian Richardson (his last role) as his uncle were excellent supporting actors. This was a better film than the recent Beatrix Potter biopic, but it is light. It is more moving (especially as Tom deserts Jane for 'better prospects') than I expected, and I did start to fill up in places. I just wonder though if it was anything more than a standard historical drama in the tradition of Merchant Ivory?

My rating 7/10