Picturenose

Life is cheap

Srdan Golubović, director of the critically acclaimed Apsolutnih sto (Absolute Hundred) (2001), here turns his attention to a prosaic, personal nightmare that asks the question: How much is any person’s life worth?

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‘You better pray good…’

First Griner: [sarcastically] Canoe trip?
Lewis: That’s right, a canoe trip.
First Griner: What the hell you wanna go fuck around with that river for?
Lewis: Because it’s there.
First Griner: It’s there all right. You get in there and can’t get out, you gonna wish it wasn’t.

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It only comes out at night…

We’re into the realms of ‘based on a true story’ again here but, in all fairness to director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road (1999)), whether or not you believe the ‘Mothman’ yarns is irrelevant - the film still emerges as rather more than merely exploitative ’spookiness’.

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Sam’s last gasp

A funny one, this - but, as it was made by Sam Peckinpah, and it was his last film before his death in 1984, funny peculiar.

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All just a bloody game…

I’ve been a film lover since I was first terrified by the wicked witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) and a film professional for around 12 years, so, like choosing your football team late (which I also did - West Ham Utd, for those who care), it’s a relief to know that I can finally answer the ‘What’s Your Favourite Film?’ question that normally follows whenever I tell people about what I do.

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All his own work?

Carl Fogaty: Any last words before I blow your brains out, you miserable prick?
Tom Stall: I should have killed you back in Philly.
Carl Fogaty: Yeah Joey, you should have.
It’s all, ahem, ‘Viggo’ for the mo - but one can but hope that a discussion of what is perhaps the best mainstream thriller since Se7en (1995) will not bring too many complaints…

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Noir nonsense

We’ve been here before - not just because The Black Dahlia is yet another noir set in the sunlight-scorched streets of Los Angeles, but also because it’s another effort from one-time whiz kid Brian De Palma (Carrie (1976), Blow Out (1981), Scarface (1983)) that falls way short of expectation.

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Best of Impossible worlds?
Domesticity beckons for everyone’s favourite ’super-spy’ Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) - he has turned his back on active duty and is now training new IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agents.

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Bone shaker
A bona fide horror flick, The Skeleton Key is the suspenseful tale of young Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson), a hospice carer who, disillusioned with the easy-come-easy-go attitude at the New Orleans hospital where she’s been working, lands a job at a fading mansion an hour up the road. There, she meets the cranky Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands) and her paralysed, dying husband Ben (John Hurt). Despite Violet’s reservations about our gal, the couple’s lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard) is on hand to help convince the matriarch that her prospective employee is more than just a city slicker. However, in the best tradition of Southern gothic, the house holds secrets - and some doors were meant never to be opened, even if you do have a skeleton key…

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Center does not hold
Former enfant terrible Oliver Stone would appear to have re-embraced the American Way but World Trade Center (2006), while graced with powerful performances and a life-affirming core narrative, suffers from biased perspectives and a sluggish middle section.

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