“It’s got all the best parts of a Woody Allen film but without the whiny annoying guy.”

“I’d quite like Peter Sarsgaard to be smiling at me right now.”

“This film raises the bar for this sort of thing. The story unfolds well, the acting is top class and it’s funny as hell in just the right parts. Director Lone Sherfig has perfected the art of omission. It’s hard to pick the best feature of this film, but look forward to some impressive cinematography by John de Borman. “

There’s no escaping the obvious, this is clearly an indie film. A young man and woman living in a big city. A not-a-love-story. Job dissatisfaction paired with vintage clothing and skinny ties. You like this band? Zooey. Even the down to earth photographs and the little sketches on the poster establish Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer as part of the indie genre.

The film is very focused on the fact that it isn’t a love story, which isn’t so much because there’s no love involved but more to do with the doomed nature of the romance, in part because of Summer Finn’s (Zooey Deschanel) free spirited yet neurotic avoidance of being in a relationship. So much of the film is focused on this theme that I feel it becomes somewhat softened as the film goes on. While the story is essentially told from Tom Hansen’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) point of view, it’s Summer’s that permeates the narrative. You aren’t allowed to forget this and get lost in the pleasant escape of Tom’s romantic thoughts, as you may in a more classical romantic comedy. Just for a moment this might have been nice.

From the outset the film gets creative in ways similar to American Splendor in which the content within the film transcended the usual boundaries of a narrative film. It’s these quirks in the storytelling that help lift the film up and above the regular boy meets girl story. Having totally nailed the non-chronological narrative, Tarantino managed to ensure than many of his descendants would seem uninspired and weird. This isn’t the case for (500) Days of Summer, this technique and others enhance the narrative without being jarring, confusing or a transparent attempt at clever. Similarities could be drawn to CBS’ How I Met Your Mother in terms of both narrative structure and character. Though I’ll avoid shedding too much light on the story, the naive romantic male character and his less-so female counterpart is one of the more interesting features of (500) and one that seems to be becoming more common in popular culture.

The chosen leads bring expectations to the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt performs well and fulfills the character, particularly the charming aspects. In fact, if he weren’t such a charming bastard then (500) might be heading to the manic pixie dream girl bin down at blockbuster. Zooey is at least a little different from normal. She’s not the space child from Yes Man, the astro kid from Weeds  or the strange girl from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but she is dreamy, independent and charming.

(500) Days of Summer reveals it’s hand early, but it can still surprise you. Though the formula matches the genre it’s still the most original romantic comedy I’ve seen in some time and for this alone it deserves credit. I’d have contemplated relegating this one to the maybe pile if it weren’t for some great humor, a polished soundtrack and the worthy story.  Plus, I’m pretty sure we all want to watch more Zooey.

I don’t know who exactly I would recommend this movie to, but I feel that is is worthy of recommendation. Among the star studded cast are Glen Close, William Hurt and Jeff Goldblum. But the big selling point of this movie for me was the soundtrack featuring Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Arethra Franklin and many more great artists. In fact, I’d actually listened to the soundtrack a few times over before even watching a movie. It’s a soundtrack that can stand on it’s own as a great album. The cinematography is top class. Beautiful shots with interesting angles and composition which provide more than is usually expected for such a down-to-earth character driven film. To shoot some genre’s at it, I’d say The Big Chill is a drama-comedy-reunion movie. The film is funny, interesting, touching and seems to reminisce of a time before I was born. Put it in your list to view.

Almost a little too childish for my taste, and my taste is pret-ty childish. However, Monsters vs Aliens swiftly pulls itself back into the worth-seeing category with a dream voice cast and great design. Aside from the overall look of the film being very pleasing, with the exception of some of the more extreme caricature, there’s retro inspiration, great animation and a fair share of eye-candy scenes that I wouldn’t feel weird about describing as “breathtaking”. When you’ve got Reese Witherspoon starring alongside Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogan, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Paul Rudd and Stephen Colbert there is definitely something for everyone to enjoy about the film. I saw this movie in NuVision 3D and didn’t feel even a single second of eye-strain.

War Photographer

“If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” – Robert Capa

There are many different types of distance involved in the presentation of a photograph to a viewer. Most obviously there is the distance between the viewer and the photo as well as the distance between the photographer and the scene. A viewer may don binoculars or a photographer may shoot with longer lenses but there is no substitute for the intricacies of simple proximity. War photographer is a documentary that builds on a third distance, that between the viewer and the photographer.

The title, caption or a surrounding article may be the only extra information provided with a published photograph none of which may be the direct effort of the photographer. The story begins and ends with the image itself. Some may argue that this is the natural state of photography as an art form; that the astute photographer should be able to say everything in the click of a shutter. I don’t feel this way personally and the experiences I’ve had listening to Fiona Clark and Peter Perrier in person are enough for me to believe that a little first hand information shouldn’t hurt the nature of the photograph/photography. Marti Friedlander once remarked something to the effect of  “I just took the photo.” Perhaps this is one reason to avoid putting the “click” on a pedestal.

While the work of James Nachtwey does not lack depth, meaning or communication, War Photographer offers more than this and I’m more than willing to accept, greedy as this may be.

Though we are not physically sharing the same space as the photographer, Christian Frei et al. closes this distance by proxy. We are there with Nachtwey as he strolls the war torn streets of Kosovo, as he interacts with an impoverished populace in Indonesia and as machine guns fire in South Africa. Up close to the photographer at work the action of taking a photo becomes salient and adds to our interpretation of the still image. The fourth wall is felled by both the actions and work of the photographer.

There are two major sides to the documentary;  Natchwey on location, and interviews with colleagues and editors. The location scenes are the most impressive and eye-opening of the film. By emplying both technique and technology Christian Frei transports us into the field. War Photographer manages to transcend the extents of both film and photo. The still photo is brought to life as the action unfolds, and the reality of photographing such scenes and people is realised through the documentary of Nachtwey and the existence of the photo as an object. The interviews shed a more general light on war photography, on Nachtwey himself and on the field of photojournalism. Though not as confronting or shocking as the footage from the field these segments are interesting and highlight the perculiarities of war photographers.

I recommend this film to anyone with an interest in photojournalism, world media or documentaries about the eccentric.

A shaggy dog story that will warm the heart of even the meanest scrooge.

An interesting project from the outset. Directed by New Zealand playwright Toa Fraser, Dean Spanley is a NZ/UK co-production based on the novella My Talks with Dean Spanley by Baron Dunsany. A top notch story, with great visuals and a master cast really draw this feature to the top of the stack.

Leon Narby’s cinematography sticks to the the common colour palette for an Edwardian period piece. But the camera movement feels much less restricted than your run of the mill costume drama. The film is lit beautifully in a very painterly fashion. Barely a scene goes by that cannot be appreciated as a still. For someone interested in visuals, this is reason enough to see this film.

Though Dean Spanley indulges in the New Zealand tradition of a very masculine cast this can be overlooked as it pits some of the best film actors from New Zealand and England together. Sam Neil is flawless in portraying the tricky role of the Dean. It’s refreshing to see Neil in such a likeable role, it brings back that sense of hometown pride we in New Zealand so often get from our stars of cinema. Meanwhile Peter O’Toole gives an intense performance visiting extremes in what has been called, hopefully prematurely, a “career-capping performance”*. Jeremy Northram, Bryan Brown and Judy Parfitt are wonderful in themselves and compliment Neil and O’Toole very well.

I went into this film having not read the book and having viewed a trailer that, thankfully, gave very little away. Less revealing trailers seem to be increasing as a trend, something I appreciate as I feel it’s often given me a better movie experience. I struggled to think of what precisely to say about the story, other than my affection for it. While writing this review I happened across screenwriter Alan Sharp’s interview with On Film in which he recalls Northam as being “unable to describe [the film] in a pitch sort of way.” Don’t despair, there is a story, and not one that is pinned on some Shyamalanian twist. My concern here is that Dean Spanley is an experience best enjoyed first hand, rather than as a hazy but well-meant recollection. Any description of such a story would lack the nuances, the tone; it would lack the ride.

Charming, funny, touching, unique. Dean Spanley reads as a cherished story from childhood with all the grown up complexity expected from a feature film. I recommend this film to all.

*Toronto International Film Festival

"Yes Man" stars Jim Carrey as Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere- the operative word being "no"- until he signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything... and anything.

1. It’s a good film. There’s a formula, yes. It sticks to it’s genre too, but that doesn’t stop director Peyton Reed from crafting an enjoyable, unique film. It’s funny and engaging, with the possibility of heartwarming and not without depth.

2. Music. Even though I am a huge fan of the Eels, it has somehow never occured to me how great their entire catalogue is in terms of filmic score. It was an epiphanic moment when I realised how well it was working. The soundtrack album is composed almost entirely of Eels songs (including a new one, Man Up) with four songs by Munchausen by Proxy (Zooey Deschanel and Von Iva). Were there a little more of the band I would offer that Yes Man is worth the Munchausen by Proxy alone.

3. Zooey. Zoeey is a star, and Yes Man embraces this. It’s great to see her in anything and even better when she gets to wear great outfits and perform original music. For fans of Zooey you can’t do much better than this film except perhaps those very few episodes of Weeds where she portrayed Uncle Andy’s maniacal ex-girlfriend. Without saying too much, there are costumes!

4. Rhys Darby. It’s been great watching him on Conchords, I certainly won’t balk at the chance to see him in a feature. There’s nothing wrong with a little hometown pride. We quite like Rhys Darby here. Hope you do too.

5. Yes. I may be pushing my luck with the Yes theme. But hey, if there ever was a movie to recommend based on the “why not” factor alone this is it. Plus, it’s a great time of the year to draw a little inspirado for living life. After all, Yes is the New No.