2009 in Review: Part One

2009 isn’t likely to be remembered as a great year for cinema. Despite many of the world’s best directors releasing films this year, it’s hard to see more than a handful of the films released remaining in people’s lists of favourites for very long. Filmmakers such as Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Pedro Almodovar and Werner Herzog failed to live up to their usual high standards, although each of their films (PUBLIC ENEMIES, FANTASTIC MR FOX, BROKEN EMBRACES and ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, respectively were all among the years 50 best).

Meanwhile, Joe Wright, whose previous two films I loved, directed one of the year’s worst in THE SOLOIST. Wright was something of an outlier, though, among British directors, as several British films were among the year’s best, from Eran Creevy’s outstanding debut SHIFTY to Andrea Arnold’s excellent FISH TANK, with Duane Hopkins’ BETTER THINGS potentially the most impressive of the three, from a stylistic point of view, at the very least. Sam Mendes made his best two films to date (although both were American films: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and AWAY WE GO), while the two best British films: BRIGHT STAR and AN EDUCATION were directed by foreign-born directors, the New Zealander Jane Campion, and the Dane Lone Scherfig, respectively.

There were a handful of hugely impressive European films, from Laurent Cantet’s THE CLASS to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s THREE MONKEYS. Special seasonal mention should go to Arnaud Desplechin’s A CHRISTMAS TALE, which featured some of the best acting of the year. Michael Haneke should, probably, be worried, as THE WHITE RIBBON is the first film of his that I could bear to even contemplate watching again, it’s a full-blown masterpiece, one of just four from this year, (to learn the others, you’ll have to wait for the full list – due on New Year’s Day).

Commercially speaking, the year was depressing. The worst film of the year may end up it’s most successful – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. Only three blockbusters were truly great, UP, THE HANGOVER and STAR TREK (the year’s most pleasant surprise), although INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Tarantino’s best film for a decade, took an awful lot of money considering it is three hours long and in a foreign language.

Special word, comes at the end, for the Man of the Year. You read a lot of articles about how difficult it is to make films, which is why we have to wait so long for new films from Paul Thomas Anderson et al. So I’d have enormous respect for STEVEN SODERBERGH even if all of his four new films released in 2009 had been terrible. As it is, two were great, one was very, very good, and the fourth an interesting experiment that doesn’t quite work. The latter is THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, a brave film, featuring an equally courageous performance from adult film star Sasha Grey. Meanwhile, THE INFORMANT! once more proved how talented and dependable a star Matt Damon is. A salacious expose of American corporate culture, it’s a funny and offbeat delight. As for greatness, though, it’s apt that the greatest films of Soderbergh’s career came from his exploration of a man who has had the title of greatness bestowed upon him. Soderbergh’s THE ARGENTINE and GUERRILLA – known from here on in as CHE, and counted as one film, are yet another massive step away from his comfort zone from the American director most eager to push himself into areas and subjects massively different from each other.

Find out where the Soderberghs, and all of the other films of 2009 rank on New Year’s Day. And, of course, have a wonderful Christmas and a terrific New Year.

Review: Avatar

There are acres of the internet dedicated to explaining just how expensive James Cameron's follow-up to the world-conquering TITANIC has proven to be. My estimate is that, once distribution and marketing costs have been added to a mammoth production budget, you're looking at a film that has cost nearly $600m to bring to the screen.

Of course, one of the costs has been the sheer lengthiness of the project. For the last four years, Cameron has been in the various stages of the production process, including using a brand new camera, in order to make the film look the way he wanted. This new camera has made quite the difference, this is by far the most impressive looking 3D film to date.

What Cameron has done, in a way that at least equals the achievement of Peter Jackson's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, is create a world that is so real and so believable that you are completely transported. AVATAR is a towering technological achievement, and a sumptuous, visual delight.

It's not without flaws, though. The film is 164 minutes long, and while this is less of an issue than might have been feared, there are moments when it drags. The dialogue is, on occasion, Lucas-esque and the focus on environmental issues is woolly, and abandoned somewhat for the money shots (isn't nature great? Well, yeah, but look how much greater it is when we blow the living shit out of it!)

It's probably best to compare it to some of the films that have been the best or biggest blockbusters since TITANIC. It's infinitely better than any of the Star Wars prequels, for example, but not as good as any of the LORD OF THE RINGS films.

You could argue that the balance of the film is askew, there's about 65% of it that could, uncharitably, be described as bollocks. On the flip-side, though, the other 35% is marvellous, more than good enough to make the film a captivating, and compelling watch. In fact, so brilliant is Cameron's film, when in full flow, that it would be easy to proclaim it as more than it is: a genuine, visual marvel, with a story borrowed from several places (most notably the legend of Pocahontas), some dodgy acting and shonky moments, levied by moments of genuine brilliance.