This seems to be a rare example of the “Romantic Comedy For Guys” sub-genre. Maybe it’s because the comedy is more strongly emphasized than the romance; maybe it’s because the protagonist Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) is portrayed in a quite ambiguous way–he might actually still be a complete jerk, rather than the fully reformed character a romantic comedy would generally have the leading man become. Nor is it a sex-filled or gross-out comedy designed to appeal to Men’s lower-brainstem sense of humour. Sure, there are plenty of base laughs, but the film also has its share of subtlety.

The story is that Chris Brander was an overweight geek in high-school nerd, and madly in love with his best friend Jamie Palomino (Amy Smart). His confession of eternal love for her gets intercepted by a loutish classmate, and he ends up laughed out of Jamie’s graduation party. Now, ten years later, he is a good-looking, successful record producer in LA, and an accomplished ladies man. Under orders from his boss (a short, but funny turn from Stephen Root), he is courting talentless pin-up Samantha James (Anna Faris) to try and get her to sign to their label. A trip to Paris turns sour, and the two of them end up in Chris’s home town in New Jersey, which he hasn’t visisted leaving school. When he bumps into Jamie in a bar, he finds that he is still in love with her, and he is determined to pursue her. This is made difficult, however, by the spoiled, psychotic starlet on his arm.

With its themes of ambiguous homecoming and interrupted romance, it has touches of Grosse Pointe Blank to it, but Just Friends never tries to be that profound, or to explore the cognitive dissonance a ten-year gap can wreak. It takes a few key threads and plays them for laughs, but most of the story is about the here and now: Chris’s attempts to get Samantha out of his hair, his failed attempts to impress Jamie with the person he has become, and his clashes with a rival suitor.

I love Ryan Reynolds, but I think he’s at his best when he underplays his comedy. There are some scenes where he hams up his performance in a Jim Carrey/Ben Stiller style, and they just didn’t work for me. Amy Smart is more than equal to him as a romantic foil, and Anna Faris is splendidly disturbed. Overall, it’s a far better better and funnier film than I had been expecting based on the trailer. It’s not a classic, but I certainly walked out with a smile on my face.

In the late 1960s, Freddie Mays (David Thewlis) is the quintessential gentleman ganster. Ruthless, impeccably dressed, and with a reputation for style. The unnamed ganger of the title is played by Paul Bettany (as a young man) and Malcolm McDowell (as his older self, 30 years later). Freddie Mays takes on this gangster as a young thug, and crafts him into one of his sharp-dressed, tough-as-nails crew. But Gangster wants more than that–he craves the power that Freddie Mays has, his money, his lifestyle, his easy way with women. He burns himself up with this obsession. And when he is finally in a position to take it all for himself, he discoveres that the victory his hollow. It’s a powerful and brutal film, with a great–and highly disturbing–performance by Paul Bettany.

Portrait of a sociopath: Tom Ripley (John Malkovitch) takes umbrage at a drunken remark from his neighbour Jonathan Trevanny (Dougray Scott), and convinces a former associate of his to recruit him as a hit man. Ripley manipulates people because he can, because it amuses him. Right and wrong don’t come into it, and yet he does live by a set of rules. These rules force him to intervene when Trevanny gets in over his head. Trevanny, a fundamentally honest and caring man and tragic figure, mistakes this intervention for compassion, and–tragically–acts according to his nature. In the end, the film leaves open the question of whether Trevanny’s actions have left Ripley a changed man, or if his new insights into human nature are merely fodder for further psychological games.

Much less sickly sweet that you might imagine from the trailer. What you don’t get from the trailer is that there is actually a love story involved, and that this is the main plot line. What happens to the children is all really in support of the fairytale servant/master romance that takes place. It is too caricaturish to weigh in as a true classic, but it’s amusing, touching, and definitely worth a watch.

I’ve given up on watching Wes Anderson’s films with any kind of expectation of plot. Now I just kick back and enjoy the sprawling web of messed-up relationships, wry emotional insights, and peculiarly intellectual comedy. Zissou is very clever, but it never really comes together into a coherent whole.

Will Stronghold is the son of Steve and Josie Stronghold–also known as The Commander and Jetstream, the world’s top superheroes. “Sky High” is the school where superheroes (and sidekicks) are trained, and Will’s parents were both star pupils there. They have high hopes for Will to join them in the family business (i.e. saving the world), but out of embarrassment Will hasn’t told them that he doesn’t actually have any powers yet.

The film blends two genres very successfully: the superhero film, and the (American) high school experience movie. There is a villain in the piece, but she only plays a major role as such in the last twenty minutes or so. The bulk of the film is about Will discovering who his friends are, and learning more about who he is. It’s less like The Incredibles and more like Buffy. In fact, it would make a great TV series. Especially if they could keep hold of Bruce Campbell and Kevin McDonald, who both give tremedous cameo performances as Coach Boomer (“Sonic Boom”) and Mr. Medulla.

Everything about this film is slow. From the way the characters talk, the speed at which the plot develops, right down to the slow fade-to-black cuts at the end of each scene. Even the climactic gunfight plays out over the course of twenty minutes or so. This isn’t a bad thing, though: it echoes the pace of the period it is portraying, and with it provides a very immersive experience.

(This quick review is part of my September 2005 “clearing the decks” exercise.)

Elvis isn’t dead–he’s living out his days in a Texas rest home with a dodgy hip, a growth on his pecker, and nothing but geriatrics and patronising nurses for company. John F. Kennedy isn’t dead, either. He was fixed up, dyed black, and tucked away in that same rest home, safely out of sight. Or…so these characters believe. Together, they investigate a couple of strange deaths in the home, which turn out to be the work of an ancient mummy who is feeding on the souls of the residents, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be missed.

This is a very odd film. Like its characters, it moves very slowly. The traditional mummy horror movie is subverted by the this pace, and by its sarcastic takes on key plot sequences. You just can’t take a fist-sized scarab familiar seriously when it’s being fought off by a decrepit Elvis with a bed pan. But it’s not a comedy, either. It doesn’t take any cheap shots at the (potential) delusions of the two main characters. It portrays them in a completely sympathetic light, and thus draws attention to the things that matter to them: the people they love, the people they left behind.

It’s an interesting attempt to mold a low-budget, off-beat genre movie into something more sophisticated and meaningful. And it does work, to an extent. Bruce Campbell gives a wonderful performance as Elvis: he is believable enough to make you question whether he is deluded, and vulnerable enough to make you care about him regardless. I don’t think it was good enough to hit the five stars Richard gave it, though.

I think I know why this wasn’t a hit at the box office: too many beards. Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey (both of whom rock) are found here sporting decidedly odd facial hair. They’re both buffed up, and take on heroic action roles, but when it comes down to the classic “men want to be them, and women want to be with them” test, I think I’d rather hang on to my Gillette triple-action, thank you very much.

Apart from that, it’s actually pretty good. In a burned-out world where long-dormant dragons have awoken and laid waste to mankind, a group of survivors are forced into a position where they have to fight for their lives, and for the survival of mankind. It’s dark, it’s violent, and not everyone lives happily ever after. The absence of a PG certificate means it doesn’t have to try and please delicate sensibilities, but neither does it stray all the way into gory last-man-standing mode. Director Rob Bowman seems to have resisted any pressure to fit the story into an established audience-pleasing mode, and instead just tells it like it is. Uncompromising, and very watchable.

This is a much more interesting film than the romantic comedy drama I had taken it for when I rented it. For a start, it’s not really a comedy. It has funny moments, but it’s primarily a story about the relationship between brothers Mickey and Francis Fitzpatrick (Edward Burns and Mike McGlone), and the woman who binds them together in anger as much as in love. Romance makes an appearance, but in a struggling and painful form, and it doesn’t always work out for the best.