Hunting for deer in the Texas desert, Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the bloody aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong, including a suitcase full of money, which he decides to keep for himself. Unfortunately, the Mexican bosses find out about him and send deranged killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) after him (strangest name since Keyser Soze, you say? Well, he is equally creepy, too). Ageing third-generation sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) can do little to stop the rampage that follows and starts seriously thinking about retirement.

This is the Coen Brothers back in Blood Simple mode. All the violence of Fargo, without any of the comedy pieces. And for some reason they refuse to give us a satisfying ending. The typical Hollywood movie would have seen Brolin and Jones overcoming Bardem in a big shootout at a motel (wrecking the place in the process). A darker version would have Bardem win. In either case, the whole movie (which is after all kind of a western) was building up towards that epic showdown. Well, does not happen. Or rather, does happen, but we don't get to see any of it. Is this the Coens telling us that violence does not pay, not even for movie-goers?

8 points

A lavish country-side estate in England, 1935. Young Briony catches glimpses of the developing romance between her older sister Cecilia and the long-time family servant Robbie, which leaves her confused, frightened and angry. When her cousin Lola is assaulted at night, she thinks she saw Robbie do it and falsely accuses him. Based on Briony's testimony, Robbie is sent to prison. The story picks up four years later with Robbie as a soldier trying to get out of France (climaxing in an epic scene on the beach at Dunkirk) and return home to Cecilia, who, estranged from her family, has stood by him and now works as a nurse. Briony is also a nurse and tries to find a way to mend the damage she has done.

7 points

Three rich and estranged American brothers (and their eleven suitcases, the printer, and the laminating machine) on a train voyage across India to find their mother (turned nun in the Himalayan foothills) and renew the family bond.

Wes Anderson's latest oeuvre is, well, a Wes Anderson film. The focus is clearly on quirky character flaws, oddball dialogue, surreal situations, meticulous attention to detail, the retro soundtrack, and the colour schemes, and Anderson fans will be able to enjoy that. You even get a short Bill Murray cameo to round off the cast of usual suspects (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzmann, Anjelica Huston). But if you were looking for plot lines, character development, or a message, you might end up disappointed. Or offended that the India depicted is a collection of stereotypes and spoiled Western boys' dreams and serves as no more than exotic backdrop. Or annoyed that for all of the pretentiousness (especially with the opening short film), there is not much substance to it.

7 points

Whether the adaptation of Philip Pullman's fantasy novels will become the trilogy it is clearly intended to be will depend on the financial success of this first part. Box office results in North America have been disappointing, probably because the Catholic League called for a boycott, but overseas performance has been solid. It seems to be up to Japan now.

7 points (ahead of Narnia, slightly ahead of Potter).

I suppose Tim Burton has Johnny Depp and his Corpse Bride Helena Bonham Carter on speed-dial, so that when he feels like making another dark fantasy movie he can quickly get over with casting the main characters. Composer Danny Elfman must have been the next one to call, except that in the case of a Broadway musical adaptation all the music has already been written. Depp landed a Best Actor Oscar Nomination for the part, and is thus excused to make a couple more silly pirate movies if it so pleases him. Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen complete the big name roster, and newcomers Jamie Campbell Bower and Ed Sanders also impress.

Rated R for a reason: Everyone sings, almost everyone dies. Rivers of blood. Cannibalism.

8 points

After an artificial virus that was supposed to cure cancer has wiped out 95% of humankind and turned most of the rest into vampires, military medical researcher Will Smith is the only man left in New York, where he and his dog try to stay alive long enough to find an antidote.

Overall nicely done dark science fiction film, but what keeps it from being on par with, say, Children of Men are the creature effects. The vampires look so obviously computer-generated that they do not fit into the otherwise uncomfortably realistic setting. Makes for good action sequences (and makes me want to take another shot at the Wii Resident Evil 4 baddies), but not really scary.

7 points

The original 2005 National Treasure falls into the category of moderately big Hollywood pictures that turn out to be surprisingly entertaining and surprisingly profitable. Other examples are the Mummy, the Matrix, or Pirates of the Caribbean. The producers of these films inevitably try to cash in by making sequels that generally fail to live up to their origins.

In a few months time Indiana Jones will be visiting the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg and Lucas should be able to demonstrate how to come up with a treasure hunting sequel that rings true.

5 points

Angelina 3D after all: Thanks to Imai-san for pointing out that while there is no IMAX in Tokyo anymore, there are Digital 3D screens, for example at the new Shinjuku Wald 9 multiplex.

The whole movie is computer-generated imagery, featuring characters closely resembling their original motion-captured human actors, and herein lies the catch: The effect is somewhat eerie and unsettling. Other animated films like Ratatouille, Pocahontas, or Team America are not trying to create the illusion that you are watching real people. But Beowulf is obviously aiming to be completely life-like, which works great for all the action scenes, for snow, and rain, and water, and fire. But lack of facial expression and dead eyes really distract from dialogue (it seemed to be less of a problem with the male characters, probably because of their beards hiding large parts of the faces).

Other than that, Beowulf was a surprisingly good film. It makes a very strong addition to the dragon slayer genre, the plot, which differs from the Old English poem, is interesting and epic, the 3D is a fun novelty that does not distract, the voice acting is fine, especially Unferth's early challenge to Beowulf (could have been spectacular with real John Malkovich and Ray Winstone), and the over-the-top masculinity of the title character ( who engages in five-day-swimming-matches and fights the monster naked) is at the same time spot-on and being satirised,

7 points

There is this big new Hollywood movie whose main attraction seems to be Angelina Jolie in IMAX 3D. Turns out that the Tokyo IMAX theatre closed in February, 2002. Hello? Is this not Technophile World Capital, nirvana for digital entertainment enthusiasts? Very disappointing.

Two years of the very successful first part of this nostalgic trip to post-war Tokyo, Always 2 brings back all its characters. The plot is similar, too, with basically all story-lines revolving around lost friends and family members. If the melodrama is too much for you, you can still enjoy recreations of an early shinkansen, airplanes, street cars, street scenes and even Godzilla.

This was my first Japanese film without subtitles on the big screen. There may have been some finer points that I missed (there could not have been too many of them, it's a straight-forward tear-jerker), but I got most of what was going on, I think.

The IMDb page is horribly empty. I might have been the first one to cast a vote, there are no comments and no poster, and only Koyuki has a picture. I was surprised to find out that the posters are apparently not user-contributed content, but part of the movie's official promotion. I tried to upload one, but would have had to pay 35 dollars for the privilege.

7 points

This movie is to the fantasy genre what Fifth Element is to science fiction, and the original Pirates of the Carribean is to the pirate movies: A light-hearted take on the material, not taking itself too seriously, but at the same time not totally silly (Shrek) or derivative (Eragon) either, with plenty of original characters, plot, mythology and visuals to provide for an interesting story in itself.

7 points

Thanks to the Tokyo International Film Festival there was a chance to see the Simpsons movie well before its terribly delayed Japanese opening. Before the screening, there was a little introductory session (the Simpsons are not at all popular here) which featured people in Simpson family costumes. Homer got sick, stumbled off-stage in the middle, and was led out through an emergency exit. Bizarre.

Best Simpsons Movie I have ever seen in my life -- so far (although one could wish for a stronger song than Spider Pig).

8 points

Pixar are still at the top of their game with this tale of a gourmet rat. And a perfect ending, too.

8 points

Small town deep in the South: Ronnie (Justin Timberlake, who does not get to sing) leaves to join the Army as his only chance to get out, maybe even as far as Knoxville. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Rae (Christina Ricci) has no control over her spells of nymphomania and starts running wild. Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) is a local farmer, whose wife just ran off with his brother. When he finds a drugged and beaten Rae unconscious on his doorstep, he decides to take the girl in and cure her of her wickedness. Which involves chaining Rae to his radiator and singing the blues to her.

8 points

As you can see, the poster was too good to pass up (although this kind of marketing will probably hurt the movie) and I'll start including posters from now on.

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