Reviews

San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk was assassinated by his fellow board supervisor Dan White in 1978. I am not giving anything away by saying that "Milk" ends with an assassination attempt. It is one of the greatest death scenes in mainstream Hollywood film, as played out in deadly showdown chicanery by terrific Sean Penn (Milk) and Josh Brolin (White) performances. We all know the outcome of the confrontation but it appears with such a sleight of hand it blindsides us all. Those of us who fell in love with director Gus Van Sant's previous movie "Paranoid Park" and interpreted the corridor walk Dan White undertakes beforehand to be directly parallel with the young skateboarder's school stroll might anticipate it. Both ended up committing murder, yet no two murders could be any different. Mr. White pleaded his innocence at the later trial by claiming an irregular diet of junk food had caused his hormones to flare out of control. The burden he was carrying, however, pales in comparison to Mr. Milk's story. Surviving the suicide of multiple lovers, shockingly, barely makes the footnote section.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

There comes a point in "Gran Torino" when enervated Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) suddenly swaps angry speech and action for something anomalous. The change of pace is brisk and perplexing. For the longest time Walt's behaviour attests to an embittered human, content to snarl at what he views as profoundly obnoxious with the modern world, yet with no hope of being able to change a single thing. He can attempt to maintain his way of life - and does, such as when he hears noises from the garage holding his most coveted possession, or when he forces a youth-led melee off his property - but the years have not been kind in his attempts to encourage others to accept his way of life. The moment I was intimating towards occurs in a bad side of town, which Walt just so happens to be unofficially patrolling. Instead of another selfish and impetuous strike, the loner shows himself capable of empathy.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

In Dane Cook's previous movie, "Good Luck Chuck," he played a man who had been granted the stirring magnetism of single women game for sex, and who threw it all away so he could have just one woman. Now, in his latest leading role, his friends are actually paying him to wine and dine their girlfriends, because they know he can be such a jerk that the date will only contribute towards their own boyfriend material package rising in stock value. This is not a desperate attempt from Tank Turner (Cook) to get off the dole, for he already has a job, and somehow this makes the whole exercise all the more sordid. Tank actually enjoys being cruel, offensive and chauvinistic - and given how frequently his friends have relationship trouble, one wonders whether Tank can actually show a little self-awareness when he is legitimately pursuing his own choice of female companions.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Plunged well into the years of middle age with perhaps his most prolific days behind him, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) veers towards the impossible presence of his removed origin. It has been thirteen years since the death of his mother and Harry is still in a state of mourning. The trickery of his craft has given him some sense of momentary relief, but the true magic Harry wishes to possess is the power of spiritualism. That is the picture painted of this illusionist in Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts." Most people are aware that Mr. Houdini was a literal thinker and attacked the world realistically. When one reads about how he survived a dangerous underwater act simply by showing great composure in his breathing flow, we applaud the honesty. He did not believe in real magic and was quick to call the bluff on those professing godly ability. What the movie gets absolutely right is his uncertainty of this certainty: in his claim to have this knowledge, he was closing the door on a pluralist set of beliefs, and possible connection with the person of his origin.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

If, on a four-star rating scale, "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" scores a three, and "St Trinians" registers a solitary single star, then "Wild Child" clocks in at about a two. If you are a teenage girl you may add one more star to each of my grades (making 'Angus' a perfect 4) because I am not the intended audience for any of these movies. The 'wild' characteristics of these movies are puerile. The girl in "Wild Child" is a slanted measurement of a teenager really going off-the-rails, of course, but that isn't what the movie is all about. This is a character who would risk falling to her death so that she could take time to cleanse the bacteria clinging to the skydiving equipment before pulling the chute. That is like so totally wild.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

"RocknRolla" astonishingly manages to balance a complex parable of ambidextrous London criminals with a film-making style which appears to conform to the typical approach of Guy Ritchie, but this time the chichi trickery of the product complements the story instead of hindering it. He has directed, by popular sentiment, two very good films ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch") and two arrant stinkers ("Swept Away" and "Revolver") - but his latest picture garnered divisive reactions from critics. The Sun newspaper ranked it as the best movie of the year, whereas the film critic for The Guardian typed his rating instinctively: one star. Even though I am still fuming after sitting through the almost unwatchable sequel about those Green Street hooligans, there is little question that the characters in "RocknRolla" are worthy to wear the tag of East End gangster.

Read the full review at: - - http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Edward Zwick's "Defiance" is a toothless historical drama with noble intentions of being epic in its moving and poignant story mechanics, but only succeeds in leaving the spectator in a state of inanition. Naturally, Eduardo Serra creates a memorable landscape in his direction of photography, but this becomes redundant since the movie is character-driven rather than laden in symbolic scenery. This would be all adequate if it were not for the terrible reality that these characters, completely sincere in their manner, are puppets in the flat sensationalist tone of the collective whole. When you have a war movie limited in action and suspense, you better find a group of actors who can convince as outlawed Jews.

Read the full review at: - - http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

The streak is officially over. For the longest time I thought it improbable that a bad movie could be made about terror within the perimeters of a train. Notwithstanding the added luxury of being allowed to use the New York subway train as the enclosed space. What is peculiar about New York City? Well, it is special. In most cities, you can hop on a train for an evening out but must find alternative travel arrangements for return. If you don't, it's a long wait in the night atmosphere waiting for the morning timetable operation. In New York City the trains run all night long. I never gave the matter much thought. The city is bulging with inhabitants, some of whom fondly take up the never-ending mass transit. A lot of weird things occur during the wee hours, a lot of strange people show up, a lot of blinding artificial lighting kicks in. People will do things unheard of in the daylight period.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

It was a little eerie watching Steven Goldmann's "Trailer Park of Terror" just days after reading about the three KFC employees who took pictures of themselves bathing in the chain's sink. If that wasn't quite enough to put me off dining in fast food joints then this woeful grindhouse experiment of horror probably closes the lid on my uncertainty. Some of the individuals lodged in this comic book inspired universe will distinguish anything as worthy of the chicken sobriquet. And if the KFC workers had been left red-faced by their actions, one character here is red all over after some 'chicken' is cooked Southern fry-up style. And, yes, these guys like to photograph such opportunities too.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Morgan Spurlock's "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" is so utterly offensive and shallow that it makes you wonder whether his success with "Super Size Me" was a fluke, and also if this exploration of the fear the threat of terrorism has generated was little more than an excuse to avoid the daily rigours of his wife's impending child birth. Spurlock's ultimate lesson through the ordeal is that there are people in the Middle East who are just as concerned with the state of the world as they bring up their babies – something we all know by now. Anyone who believes a Muslim is automatically a terrorist might find some food-for-thought here, but not for anyone versed in the subject. This is an example of a filmmaker simplifying an important topic for the sake of getting a few laughs. I envisage only those who enjoyed the satire in "Team America: World Police" will appreciate the image of a model Osama Bin Laden dancing to the 'Can't touch this!' lyrics of that hit record.

Read the full reviews at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Black, white and nothing else - such movies painted this way are sadly relegated to a bottom tier, undeniably niche to punters and commercially risky for studios. When I hear people tell me they don't like watching anything that isn't in full colour because it seems weird, I feel lucky to have got past that hurdle. It is the same thing for foreign films with subtitles and those that are in 3-D. As viewers we are taken out of our comfort zone, and not everyone likes to be jerked around from normal habits. I have rarely hidden my delight in the particular form of black-and-white in motion pictures. Talk to a professional photographer and gather opinions from those who work in the field. Black-and-white creates starker imagery and people look better when natural light is absorbed. Take Thomas Turgoose, for example, a name you will likely recall and a face you will never forget from "Eden Lake" and "This Is England." He has a distinctive look, partially due to medical reasons, and that was highlighted in those colour movies. In "Somers Town" his character is pummelled ferociously by a trio of streetwise hooligans. He recovers to the nearest bathroom and washes his wounds. And you know what? He still looks like a movie star.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Just when you were starting to think it was safe to stay at home with all the chaos on the high streets, something had to come along to bite back against the notion. A house ought to be a secure and calm environment but not anymore, at least, not according to contemporary cinema for this is the third home invasion horror to reach western audiences in the last year or so. Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" is the most mainstream of the three comparable works which is no surprise given the abominable advertising campaign that criminally reveals key plot issues. This is a regular feature in the marketing of horror flicks nowadays as I could list many more that I should have passed on given the trailer told me everything that would happen and even what the resolution would be. Don't watch the trailer for "The Strangers," don't look at the posters and don't even think about reading any review that does not have a note from the critic highlighting their integrity to the movie's secrecy. This is one such analysis.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

"Man on Wire" does many things with aplomb, but its best component has to be the music that penetrates through the soundtrack at the sight of Phillippe Petit dancing on a tightrope. The movie saves the piece of mood music, Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, for the moment this meticulously crafted heist thriller has been building up to right from the first frame - the shots of Frenchman Petit illegally crossing a tightrope fixed between, and at the very top, of the World Trade Center's towers. It is the perfect companion piece to this wondrous sight. Soft, languid, lyrical in rhythm, sparse and hypnotic in harmony, it matches the graceful poise of this man on wire. To have been a spectator that day in the summer of 1974 I imagine would have given one a taste of a great vision, and a great folly. A police officer who witnessed the walk admits he struggled to follow his job instructions - he could have tried harder to constrict the crime but was so naturally in awe he wanted to just stand back and absorb the kind of image that probably occurs once in a lifetime.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

"Transsiberian" is precisely the sort of thriller that I like to see gracing theatres at times like these to remind us of past economic slumps, though whether it will play in your local bijou is extremely doubtful. It is a movie that surrounds the spectator in the bleak experience with many characters, most of whom remain enclosed within the confines of the famous train vessel that connects Moscow to Beijing. We are in the days after the demise of the Soviet Union. One might expect public transport finances to be breathing easier now but that isn't the case. One character, upon laying eyes on the vehicle, jokes to his partner that flying might have been the better option. An effective sense of mood is evoked onboard, grasping the depressed nature of life in modern Russia. The cabins are cramped, the toilets do not flush, the staff are miserable and everyone seems to have an opinion about the quality of the law maintainers.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Is there anyone more lovable acting asinine than Eleanor Tomlinson? Jas, her character, lights up the screen thanks to the efforts of an actress doggedly fixated with the material. She may not descend from Beyond Bonkerdom or even the Valley of Thick within the strict rules of the Ace Gang's legislation, but there is much to admire in a character who plays thick period, rather than just for the moment. I hope to see more of Tomlinson if director Gurinder "Bend It Like Beckham" Chadha receives the financial backing for a sequel. I want to spend more time in the company of these characters - I'm almost demanding another movie given the fact this one never got a release in the United States. It's the best film of its genre since 2005's "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" because there is a caring attribute towards the characters, especially the leading quartet, and what pleasure it is to see the development of young girls growing, legitimately, into young women within such short boundaries.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

There is something fruitfully appealing to the process of watching a court trial during the years of the American Old West frontier. Convicting a man of unlawful activity rests upon circumstantial evidence for the most part. A murder will occur in the middle of the rural terrain, yet everyone will have an opinion as to the exact cause of death. Sometimes the man who committed the crime will reveal the fundamental reality through fear of supposed witnesses giving testimony. This could be the case for rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) in "Appaloosa" during his trial in the town of the film's title. An eyewitness is solemnly declaring Bragg's murderous rampage; a rampage that resulted in the loss of three townspeople. Whether Bragg is innocent or guilty of the crime means very little during such trials. It is all speculation. It is all hypocritical also. We have seen the City Marshall Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) carry into effect a killing of great resemblance, and he is the one hoping to hang Bragg high. The whole process is morally ignoble, and it is little wonder the witness needs a head start with the horseback ride out of town.

When a Western is updated to appear in the world of modernity, one can do worse than applaud David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" as a sublime example. You may recall that Viggo Mortensen played the timid Tom Stall, owner of a popular cafe on the main street of this pleasantville, who is stalked by a severely scarred Ed Harris in an ominously menacing black automobile. In "Appaloosa" they are partners and, given Harris is the director of the movie, Mortensen draws upon his Tom/Joey character. His Everett Hitch is once again in the shadow of Harris, this time as the number two man in charge of maintaining the safety of Appaloosa. Everett is suffering from a severe crisis of identity, Although he is cultured in his behaviour, there is a discernible exasperation in his monosyllabic diction and laid-back conduct. As deputy to Virgil's City Marshall status, he is frequently called upon to help with business his job description does not ask of him. Virgil has the unwieldy habit of trying to speak words he must search for in his vocabulary - his inability to speak effortlessly is an Achilles Heel that a Sheriff Everett Hitch would not comprise.

Read the full review at my personal website: -- http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

What a brute of a husband he must have been. And what a despicably wicked unit he endures to remain. Wedding bliss seems a long way off when you are stuck until death parts you from the mistaken proposal you naively accepted. There is an informal joke about the married couple who have always insisted on living together, long after they have ceased to care for one another. The husband in "100 Feet" is still living with the wife even though he is no longer alive, having been killed by his partner after years of domestic violence choreographed on his part. The dead linger sometimes. Oddly, not a soul has noticed the ghostly occupant of the crime scene. Perhaps that is because the crime scene forensics never notified a cleaner to remove the dead human matter. This ghost might be sticking around because he: seeks revenge; seeks an item of his that is out of reach, or is destined to howl and growl until some living person cleans his blood off that wall. Whatever is his intention, it certainly is not down to caring for his wife.

"100 Feet" begins inside the police car and, barring a few fleeting moments of daylight, never juggles to an exterior setting. The passenger in the car is Marnie Watson (Famke Janssen) and I detect the nod to Hitchcock straight away. She was charged with manslaughter after the jury found her guilty of killing her spouse. Having spent a couple of tiring years in prison, the good news is that she is no longer a inhabitant of the prison. The bad news is that her new freedom involves being barred from leaving the house in which the murder took place. The place stinks of the gory killing years earlier. If it were my house, the first thing I would ensure is that the phone would be dialling the number of a housekeeper.

Read the full review at my personal website: -- http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

I am not a Conservative when it comes to my politics. There is a serious problem in Britain when one evaluates the inadequacies of parental control no doubt. We have seen "This Is England." Trouble is, so has director James Watkins. If you require proof just look at who is cast as one of the troublemakers - Thomas Turgoose who was the young skinhead Shaun in that movie and was also recently seen in Shane Meadows most recent output "Somerstown." What is evident is that Watkins is no master of storytelling. I looked up his credits. This is his first feature film. His most renowned screen credit was as writer of the horrific low-budget Big Brother is watching styled horror "My Little Eye" so my expectations were quite low. I was somewhat interested in seeing a different side to the actor who is playing Bobby Sands in the critically acclaimed "Hunger," Michael Fassbender.

Read the full review at my personal website: - - http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Oliver Blackburn's "Donkey Punch" observes the great lengths a group of twentysomethings will go to in order to cover their tracks when tragedy occurs off the coast of Majorca. Six of the individuals had bonded at a brassy nightclub earlier in the night, and they have now met up with the other person who was guarding the expensive yacht for the night. The group can be split into two sections: the three women who do not own the yacht, and the four men who not only own the vessel, but live their life there too. If a tragic situation were to develop, no matter from what source, the group dynamic will always favour the men's side, and so it does. When you are out in an unknown terrain, with shark-infested waters surrounding your base, there wouldn't seem too many places for characters to evaporate into thin air, but "Donkey Punch" makes a fair fist at sabotaging such logical engagements.

Read the full review at my personal website: - - http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Maggie Grace as teenager Kim Mills is not a natural worrier. She is ready and set to follow the rock group U2 all over Europe as they gig, presumably with little plans for the daily travelling movements. Her dad wastes a great amount of time thinking about what could happen - pleading with her to terminate her plans and stay safe in America. What does he know that we do not know? Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) loves his daughter and seems to have taken a congratulatory early retirement from the CIA for family needs. He wants to be close to his daughter even though his relationship with his wife (Famke Janssen) is broken. 'I know the world' Bryan tells them and sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. His career job has forced him to contemplate the intentions of those around him. Since many bad things often can't help but rear their heads when he is about, it is a good thing the man is skilled at playing invisible.

Those who best know Bryan speak highly of his many interests, his high intellectual processing, his ability to shift gears and tasks when the urge strikes itself. We are told all this needlessly in the early sections even though one promising sequence sums up everything spectacularly. Mobile phones have been on big-budgeted movies radar for many years now and when such household commodities prove a nuisance, screenplays go to extreme lengths to anul their presence. In Pierre Morel's "Taken" the mobile phone takes centre stage. Without them the movie would suck. The great scene, striding into the picture around the twenty minute mark, films Bryan anxiously dialling the cell phone number for his daughter as she should have arrived in Paris some hours ago but never gave notification.

Read the full review at my personal website: - - http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Mimi Leder's "Thick as Thieves" reminded me for a large proportion of its existence of heist/con artist movies where I actually cared about all the nonsense. Consider this moment: Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas are a couple of crooks who have gelled over the course of a few days and together have combined to rob a highly secure facility of a box contained deep in the vaults. With all those laser beams the challenge is nigh on impossible, and the chance for any suspense is hindered by the following which I paraphrase from my mental notes: security officer checks out alarm set off under unknown circumstances, is taken hostage by the duo at gun-point, is taken into an elevator at which point he speaks to the camera wishing his colleague a happy birthday even though it is no such day, and at around the same time some pornography footage is wired into the monitors, and just for the icing on top, a cake miraculously appears at reception. The word I am searching for is 'abashedly' to sum up that previous sentence. Don't hesitate to damn it a rant. To quote a trendy line from the flick - I'm just saying, that's all.

Harnessed on the rear of these exploits is Detective Weber (Robert Forster), a 22-year veteran of the robbery and homicide squad, and the theft of prized art works is one of the juicier parts to his job bracket. For a couple of decades he has been ruthless at locking away all the thieves of such possessions - all except for the man he and his team continually examine on CCTV footage during instances of chaos, yet can never serve up enough evidence to connect him explicitly to the action; Keith Ripley (Freeman.) Even when he bumps into them both impersonating police officers, the tickling urge within Weber tells him to hold steady and wait for the most opportune occasion to catch the big fish for life.

Read the rest at my personal site: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

If you have ever read Stephen King's The Running Man or viewed the Arnold Schwarznegger flick of the same title, it will surprise you little to note the rise and rise of reality-based television hugging prime time slots on the biggest of networks. Most of them are chalk and cheese, and that is what the heroine of this would-be satire understands. She deduces correctly that doom fatigue is a natural cancer in the life of such television unless they continue to expand and evolve. This is the brassy Katy (Eva Mendes) as she works, consistently, in her role as head of programming for the American Broadcast Network, and at the start of "Live!" we are beyond any reasonable doubt that Katy's new reality show of games will be a groundbreaking piece of history, easily sitting alongside the invention of the Apple computer or the Apollo mission to the moon. Nobody has ever tuned into a television show anticipating a suicidal act, because no company would ever greenlight such a venture. Until now that is, and, say what you will about it only being a movie, but it is where we are headed given that television is losing the battle against the internet.

Everyone knows how no television studio would ever greenlight a programme involving six ordinary persons playing Russian Roulette live on air, with the revolver spinning its silver bullet into the pack of fake ones. Each contestant is chosen at random to point the gun at their head and press the trigger. If they survive, they receive a cheque on the spot, making them multi-millionaires. One will be unlucky, however, and his family will have their gasping breath punctured by the sight of their loved one hitting the floor dead on arrival. The Federal Communications Commission should tell Katy where to stick this creative pitch. An executive, internally of the American Broadcast Network, informs her that the idea turns him on, but once she leaves the room, he is quick to let others know she is shooting herself in the foot. We know this, thankfully, since the camera was left in the office.

Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

Cinema is the only art form that allows us to transcend the inevitable progression of time. Photography permits us to freeze images in a trapped temporal position, but since its earliest days cinema has shown how the world might appear if we could shuffle the order of calendar selections. In "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" the genius of the story is contained within pure science fiction material. A child is born as a withered old man with one foot in the grave and ages over the course of a healthy lifespan to become younger with each passing year. Millions of possibilities exist as to how this man could lead his mysterious existence, and the grandest gesture in David Fincher's old-fashioned fantasy is that the man is treated not as a freak, but observed by others, and ourselves, from a different perspective. As a commentary on the goodwill of fellow man, this is a movie to clasp.

There is a young boy who lives in my neighbourhood who has a hideous deformity on his face. One can only sympathise with his unfortunate condition. Whether his outer appearance affects any relationship I may have with him is unfounded. If he is a good guy I will welcome his friendship, but if he fails to be civil around me then I will judge him solely by his attitude. That is how the sea of characters take to Mr. Benjamin Button. I went in expecting to see one sort of movie and was joyously surprised. Director David Fincher steers clear of casting a herd of bullying folk to tease and mock the abnormal individual. He also avoids sticking slavishly to the original comic material by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is an old-fashioned weepie epic in the best sense of the description. It is tough to make such a picture and avoid critical bashing because it is easy to veer into the realm of melodrama. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" hardly enters into this territory. Yes, the sets and the effects take precedence, but there is character depth on display. The natural progression of the story is set in stone, so all Fincher can hope to achieve is through his protagonist's inducing of radical thought through absorbing others beliefs.

Read the full review: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

"Klass" is the latest movie to arrive with the marketing personnel working overtime to illuminate audiences with the direction of the story, and in this particular case the knowledge is radiated in a tangible manner just from looking at the publicity work. Do I begin this review by giving away what happens just as every other writer who has seen "Klass" is doing? I would rather not spoil the fun. However, this production is marketed as the Estonian take on the Columbine High School incident so take from that what you will. I knew nothing about the parallel connection before my screening, but even if I had it wouldn't have been detrimental to the success of my viewing experience. There is much more going on here than simply a reaction to an event that took place the best part of a decade ago, and with the Virginia Tech Massacre still fresh in our mind, perhaps it is a reminder that bad things can happen outside of the United States of America now and again even if they are not classed as news-worthy.

Read the full review at my website - -

http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/

In obedience to some feeling - a subjective one - I want to embrace Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" because in a medium of much darkness, here is film that sparkles like a halo in the night sky, with images so visible, and so visibly distinct, they replay in your mind long after the screening. Within a few days of seeing most movies I forget most of the individual shots in predilection of the most fruitful, whatever they should be in regards to visuals or sound properties. I saw this movie a week ago, and can recall virtually every scene, but deeper than that, the number of moments within a scene are unforgettable. Yes, if you are familiar with Boyle's filmography you will not think this notion even mildly curious. He is a very good filmmaker, and a show-off. Could he make a straight-in-front-of-you drama like "The Godfather" if he was asked? Could he let the actors pull more of the dramatic crux from their talent?

If "Slumdog Millionaire" were a novel I would describe it as an aureate piece of fiction. The movie, by chance, was actually based on a book and, sinceI have read the work, I am pre-empting myself by saying it does not fall into the same category of this movie. Q and A, by novelist Vikas Swarup, is a great read, and if you love the movie I suggest you take the time to investigate the source material. Unlike the book, which relied heavily on the main character's sorrow at being refused his deserved winnings, "Slumdog Millionaire" rallies to a higher level of narrative complexity, aiming most prominently for a tagged-on love interest. Romance in a fairytale is fair game, but not so much when the actual actors are sidelined by the filmmaker. There are hundreds of brilliant shots throughout, more than most cinematic experts will have experienced all year. The harsh reality is that the style weighs outthe substance, especially if you are an Aristotelian disciple. The screenplay exhibits a discomposure that leaves an inertia on the experience, however magical it may have appeared.

The best way to understand a person is to tell stories about them. The best way to tell stories is to jump from one tale to another with no method to the process. In "Slumdog Millionaire," the stories we learn about the young man at the heart of the picture, Jemal (Dave Patel), are told in the actual sequence of order he lived through them. Every scene of his past is grooved into specific episodes that are related to the series of questions he is asked on the Indian version of a popular television quiz show. The movie ponders Jemal's status as a contestant; a successful contestant no less. Time and time again Jemal comes up the correct answer. How is he doing it all - even when he admits to not knowing an answer for sure, his instinct comes up trumps? Lady-luck is on his side if we accept his word as honesty personified. Maybe he is regurgitating information linked to him through some intricately sophisticated crowd partnership? Is he simply fortunate, or a genius posing as a slumdog? Not every man can be great, but greatness in men can appear from anywhere, including the poverty-stricken slums of Mumbai.

Read the full review at my personal website: --

http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr