Hottest Track: Dan Black - Hypntz

Madonna: 50 and Fabulous

Mini Review: Caged (1950)

Caged
Directed by John Cromwell
Starring: Eleanor Parker, Hope Emerson, Agnes Moorehead
Grade: B+

Courtesy of Goatdog (thanks, Mike) I was able to catch this great film about the many failures of the prison system. I mainly wanted to see this for Eleanor Parker's oscar-nominated performance, which I was unable to judge when I rounded up Oscar's 1950 Leading Ladies more than a few moons ago. After seeing it I'd probably place her a respectable fourth, given the incredible quality of the line-up, and she weighs up at about as good as Caged itself.

The best parts of Girl, Interrupted, a film admittedly not about prison but bearing similar themes, are a) the acting, and b) the way in which it's made. This is a similar story. Caged features a great ensemble, and its noir-era melodrama always works well in the film. However, it does seem a little too eager to state its message that the prison system creates criminals rather than reforms them (an admirable one I know -- especially for the era), and presents this very baldly. Not the worst crime in the world, but because there's so much the film can be admired for (brave themes, dark sequences, unsympathetic characters) it does act as a slight let-down.

Politically speaking it also gets to the brunt of why the prison system is the way it is, but the real key to Caged is its community, which feels united by necessity (against a thoroughly hideous prison warden) rather than any token need to create characters to root for. Parker's Marie gets immersed in this community, and despite her key moral shift not as incremental a process as I would have liked, is a believeable victim of her mistakes. Thus, Caged does its job.

The Folly of a Monster Love

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Directed by Jonathan Levine

Starring: Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Michael Welch

Grade: B

Fans of teen slashers should look no further than All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, released earlier this year having been banded around the festival circuit since Toronto in 2006. Slasher flicks are hardly festival fare, but if Lane is to be compared to recent interpretations, such as Prom Night, earlier this year, and Rob Zombie's Halloween remake of 2007, it's with more than a degree of admiration.

Mandy Lane (Heard) is the object of randy-high-school-jock desire, turning heads with her beauty and crucially, her purity. While other girls show less grace and discretion Lane is the inpenetrable figure that everyone wants to penetrate. The good girl. The ultimate trophy. And while she glides around looking unfathomably pretty boys drop like flies at her feet (one literally, from a porch roof to a messy end) in acts of foolish devotion. So enter a boozy drug-fuelled weekend ranch party to mix things up, and in Texas Chainsaw Massacre style a Lane-obsessed psycopath to prey on her friends in typically merciless fashion.

While for a hefty chunk of its modest eighty minutes running time Lane remains a routine onslaught of teenage death below Mandy's towering pedastal of objectification, Jacob Forman's first script is both amusing and curious, linking all but Lane in a thinly-veiled high-school-clique way that does work as a group dynamic, if occasionally in a little too repetitive manner. The depiction of Lane as a shrinking violet though, as opposed to the naive Straight-A student so blatantly capable of being manoeuvred, is by far the most interesting element of the film. Heard's poutless lethargy borders on dull at times but rather than accept this as a fault of her's I think it more likely that this be part of the film's ironic twist that Mandy Lane was never worth pursuing in the first place.

In this type of film it's all too easy to iconise your title star as a person above all the others. While that may be true in terms of intelligence and beauty, Lane is not your typical heroine, and rather than scrap like your hapless female victim, it's much easier to accept that she isn't a victim at all, and someone you're probably never going to understand. In the end, Levine, who often channels the stylistic prowess of Gus Van Sant and Quentin Tarantino in the film (a curious mix, I know) creates an exciting and -- particular in its final moments -- successful re-work of the slasher. Like the classic Scream films Lane revels in its knowledge of the genre and knowing that it ultimately has something different to offer, but instead of helping us feel sorry for the objectified Mandy Lane, makes us feel like all the boys do. Powerless.

Happy 50th Birthday: Kate Bush

A mere two or so weeks sooner than another female musical icon celebrates her 50th birthday, the seemingly-ageless creative genius that is Kate Bush celebrates hers.

I really only got into her music a couple of years ago - a short time before the release of her latest album in 2005, the majestic, Brit-nominated Aerial. It's an amazing album, possibly eclipsed only by her debut The Kick Inside, which contains some of the best written songs I've ever encountered.

Here are two clips. The first is where it all began: her debut TV performance, in which she performs Kite and her famous Bronte-inspired Wuthering Heights. The second is a performance of my favourite track in her vast collection, the beautiful, mysterious Man With The Child In His Eyes, which she wrote aged just 13 (!!).

Hottest Track: Kylie Minogue - The One (Freemasons Vocal Club Mix)

Addicts 2007: The Stats

And the Addicts are over!

Here are the stats...

6 Nominations

Atonement
2 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Ensemble, *Cinematography, *Costume Design, Art Direction)

A Mighty Heart
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Ensemble, Actress in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Editing)

5 Nominations

I’m Not There
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Actress in a Supporting Role, Original Screenplay, Editing)

4 Nominations

Juno
2 Wins/1 Runner Up
(*Ensemble, Actress in a Supporting Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, *Original Screenplay)

No Country for Old Men
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Cinematography, Sound, Adapted Screenplay, Actor in a Supporting Role)

3 Nominations

I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone
1 Win
(Film, *Director, Cinematography)

Into the Wild
1 Win
(Actor in a Leading Role, *Adapted Screenplay, Editing)

Knocked Up
0 Wins
(Ensemble, Original Screenplay, Actor in a Supporting Role)

La Vie En Rose
0 Wins
(Actress in a Leading Role, Costume Design, Make Up)

Lust, Caution
1 Win
(Cinematography, *Actress in a Leading Role, Costume Design)

Once
1 Win/1 Runner Up
(*Film, Director, Original Screenplay)

There Will Be Blood
0 Wins
(Cinematography, Actor in a Leading Role, Art Direction)

2 Nominations

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
0 Wins
(Actor in a Supporting Role, Original Screenplay)

Hairspray
0 Wins
(Ensemble, Sound, Editing)

Sleuth
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction)

Sunshine
1 Win
(Visual Effects, *Art Direction)

Sweeney Todd
0 Wins
(Costume Design, Art Direction)

Transformers
1 Win
(*Sound, Visual Effects)

We Own the Night
0 Wins
(Actress in a Supporting Role, Editing)

1 Nomination

300
1 Win
(Visual Effects)

Away From Her
1 Runner Up
(Actress in a Leading Role)

Bug

(Make Up)

Disturbia
1 Win
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
1 Runner Up
(Costume Design)

Hallam Foe

(Adapted Screenplay)

In the Valley of Elah
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Interview
(Actress in a Leading Role)

It’s a Free World…
(Actress in a Supporting Role)

Michael Clayton
1 Win
(Actress in a Supporting Role)

Planet Terror

1 Win

(Make Up)

Rescue Dawn

1 Win

(Actor in a Supporting Role)

Things We Lost in the Fire
1 Runner Up
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Addicts 2007: Best Film and Director

I have to say that I hardly ever match my favourite five pictures and directors in a given year. But this time, it's happened. I simply could not see past the achievements of these five films, despite how much I loved Juno, Black Snake Moan, Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Lust Caution and the rest...

Best Film & Best Director

Atonement
& Joe Wright

If films were purely judged on their visuality Atonement would be leaps and bounds above the rest, but as it stands it takes a healthy position in my top ten. Cecilia and Robbie's romance crucially works because it feels so complete, despite their periods of separation and the tragic events that end their relationship. I once saw an act in which two dancers stood on either side of a glass partition, each mirroring the actions of the other. I like to think of Cecilia and Robbie in this way: physically isolated but emotionally united. The way in which their romance is handled in Atonement - tentatively, lusciously, and at times consigned to the back burner for Briony's intense character study, is a brave move, and makes the story feel all a more subtle and poignant one.

I Don't Want To Sleep Alone
& Ming-liang Tsai

I find it incredible that there is such a miniscule amount of dialogue in Tsai's stunning film. He uses so much of the filmmaking pallette (through colour, light, composition) to create a calm and reflective mood, and a portrait that holds your gaze with its simple beauty. I Dont Want To Sleep Alone is a film about interaction, and it details (without drawing attention to itself) the ways in which it's possible to access the thoughts and feelings of another without probing inquisition. In this way its technique, and interaction with the audience, is indicative of the films inhabitants: quiet, patient, knowing, natural. Actions speak louder than words.

I'm Not There
& Todd Haynes

I've said so much about it already, so I'll keep this fairly brief. Haynes' film is one of the best biopics I've ever seen because it bucks the 'biopic' trend so radically. It doesn't pretend to know everything about its subject, juggling ideas of Dylan as a badboy, a recluse, an activist, with tremendous energy and dynamism. A triumph.

A Mighty Heart
& Michael Winterbottom

Lingering flashbacks of Daniel Pearl can perhaps be compared to the sentimentality with which Rachel Weisz's murdered political dynamo is captured in 2005's problematic The Constant Gardener. Usually, I don't like a film to constantly remind me how important its subject is, but with A Mighty Heart, there was a point where I abandoned the idea of it as a reconstruction of anything. It's amazing that the intensity and immersion that the film provides remains firmly on the right side of the overkill barrier, and that you can't begrudge the filmmakers for whisking us into a situation that only dark minds could tolerate or desire to be in the first place, because it's so god damn interesting.

Once
& John Carney

I cried at the end of Once.

I cried at the end of The Bucket List too, so that's hardly an indication of how good a film is, but I'd like to think that there's an obvious difference as to why I cried at the end of each film. While sucre was ever-present in the latter, Once never cheapens itself, or even purports that its characters are dissatisfied at what happens in the film. Hell, it's a HAPPY film. But I felt like I knew the characters so well through their behaviour, and significantly the music that they create, that I just didn't want to leave them. For the principle characters to lay so much of their souls down on the table for eighty minutes and then turn around and filter into the distance ambiguous unknowns isn't something we expect from a film. Harsh, but undoubtedly realistic, their existence can be likened to music itself: ephemeral and precious.

Winner: Once (1)
Runner Up: I'm Not There (2)
A Mighty Heart (3)
I Don't Want To Sleep Alone (4)
Atonement (5)

Rest of Top Ten...

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (6)

Lust, Caution (7)

Sunshine (8)

Black Snake Moan (9)

Into the Wild (10)

Winner: Ming-liang Tsai

Runner Up: Michael Winterbottom

Hottest Track: Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone

Yes, I'm back. Unbelievable. Buy this girl's album. It's top.

2008 FAQ

It may appear as if I've been in a bit of a timewarp on the filmic front; reminiscing about actresses long dead and proclaiming awards for 2007's cinematic gems. But sadly, until distributors figure a system whereby films get a worldwide synchronised release (I live in the hope of a six year-old praying that Santa is real), things aren't gonna look clean. Still, I've nearly put this to bed. Just two more categories in the Addicts to go.

As for 2008, here are some FAQ's for ya, until I can manage to muster up a couple of reviews of the 11 releases I've seen so far:-

Q: What's the year's best film so far?

A: Neil Marshall's Doomsday. A political action thriller packed with substance, lucid in tone, and confident in execution.

Q: What's the year's worst film so far?

A: The horrendous Other Boleyn Girl. Tacky, trashy and repellent.

Q: Will Sally Hawkins be nominated for an Oscar, and if so, is she worthy?

A: It's a signature Mike Leigh Actress performance. Like Blethyn, some are likely to find her annoying, but there's undeniable depth there. At the moment, I'd say yes. And it's Oscar worthy stuff in my eyes. Loved her.

Q: Are you going to see Indiana Jones 4?

A: Haha. Not even for Shia.

Q: Which film are you most looking forward to this year?

A: Synecdoche, New York!

And a few words about the extraordinary impact that the year of 2008 has had upon me thus far...
I'm actually looking forward to seeing the work of Clint Eastwood and Sean Penn ;-)

Eurovision Semi-Final Qualifiers

3 Days To Go Until Eurovision!

The following qualifiers from the first Eurovision Semi-Final (it's a gruelling process) are:-

• Greece
• Romania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Finland
• Russia
• Israel
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Poland
• Norway

I didn't see the semi-final (I'm trying to avoid the songs, remember) but my fellow Eurovision-obsessee says that Dima Bilan's performance for Russia was diabolical. He still got in, so go figure why he's the frontrunner. Oh, and you're right in thinking Dustin the Turkey will not be mixing the decks for Ireland on Saturday. Try not to cry into your pillows tonight.

Hottest Track: Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head

Ferropolis, My Metropolis: Or How I Learned To Stop Fucking Around And See Björk

I have a confession: I have never been to a concert. Maybe it was ticket prices that put me off. Or perhaps that I seem to have such a different taste in music than most of my friends/family. Nevertheless, it's a pretty sad situation.

When tickets for Madonna's new tour came out on Monday I got thinking about things and decided I wanted to go, but when I posed this theory to my friend she clearly wasn't gonna shell out £75 on the woman. Fair enough if you're not that much of a fan. Not all of us think she's legendary. We did however compromise on the idea of going to a festival this Summer.

As well as never having been to a concert, I've never been camping before, so the theory in itself throws up images of a headfirst dive into a shallow pool, but if I'm bound for a rude awakening then so be it, because on the weekend of July 18th I shall be heading to none other than Germany for the Melt! festival. The good news? A return flight costs £30! The better news? Björk will headline it, closing the marathon 72-hour event on Sunday evening.

I've already exercised my adoration for the Icelandic Goddess on more than one occasion, and I am so deliriously excited at the prospect of seeing this woman perform probably around ten songs live on stage in the surroundings of Ferropolis (which translates curiously as 'City of Steel'). Other performers also include Robyn (!), and Roisin Murphy (!!), whose 2007 album, 'Overpowered', is nothing short of incredible. Also: Kate Nash, Hot Chip, and Operator Please.

I need reining in ;-)

Addicts 2007: Rounding Up The Minors

These are the categories I haven't managed to get through, so I'm gonna rattle them off now pretty quickly, before I proceed to name my director and picture picks:-

Ensemble

Atonement

*Juno

A Mighty Heart

Hairspray

Knocked Up

Cinematography

*Atonement

I Don't Want To Sleep Alone

Lust, Caution

No Country For Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Sound

Hairspray

No Country For Old Men

*Transformers

Visual Effects

*300

Sunshine

Transformers

Hola. Eurovision is exactly 10 days, 1 hour and 50 minutes away, so it's time to look ahead to the first semi-final, which takes place next Tuesday. Unlike other award shows (as if any others count), I don't like to see all of the competitors before the big night. With Eurovision, it's fun kind of experiencing these interesting, and in some cases fucking CRAZY tunes, for the first time. Nevertheless I've decided to bring your attention to a couple of countries hoping to make it through that first semi-final.

Ireland
Dustin the Turkey - "Irelande Douze Pointe"

Yes that is a puppet turkey. What more do you expect from a contest like this? On a more serious note: I find it telling that even Ireland, one of the most culturally-ingrained, historically musical (and successfully so) nations in the World has reverted to such a tacky and obvious gimmick. Let's stick to what we're good at people.

Russia
Dima Bilan - "Believe"

This guy famously danced around in a vest in 2006 to the tune of "Never Let You Go", while papier-mached figures emerged from a piano. The set was interesting. The song was good. This one seems a little more routine (although nobody can predict the presentation of any song in this contest), and it kinda starts like "Umbrella", which is... strange.


Greece
Kalomira - "Secret Combination"

My Greek friend linked me to the three songs Greece would have to choose from to represent them at Eurovision this year. This was the one I disliked and the only one of the three she liked. We'll see if the rest of Europe agree with me or her, but in my view, its chorus is dull and repetitive, which makes it a lame pop song.

Addicts 2007: Actress in a Leading Role

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Julie Christie
Away From Her

Alzheimers is a terribly sad fate for a person, and watching the breakdown of Grant and Fiona's relationship in the touching but undeniably troubled Away From Her, is itself fairly devastating. It's interesting though that, for me, the entirety of the film's engulfing sense of loss is instigated (without ever appearing so) from the incredible Julie Christie. We are often encouraged to walk in the shoes of the weary, and annoyingly overwrought Gordon Pinsent. A man who has lost something. But Christie makes Fiona much more accessible as a victim, her mental deterioration mirroring Pinsent's physical longing, and thus her punishment seems much more ingrained and natural. She doesn't seem affected, losing none of the grace, humour, charm; yet appears so irredeemably distant. Without context. Without recognition. A rich and painful portrayal.

Marion Cotillard
La Vie En Rose

In more than one way Cotillard's performance is not of the ilk that I tend to admire. Incredibly theatrical (especially in terms of her gestures and mannerisms) one can be tempted to believe that she lacks depth, restraint, understanding of what is needed to make Piaf a genuine character. But for what Olivier Dahan's La Vie En Rose so baldly displays as a fast-paced sporadic tribute to the legendary powerhouse (not dissimilar to the pace and style of All That Jazz by the way), Marion Cotillard can read everything the film wants to achieve and more. I had difficulty separating whether it's more her triumph than Dahan's that together, her performance and the film seem so synchronised. It's a success for both, but the editing -- a major feature of the film -- has to have festered gladly on Cotillard's showy snippets of Piaf. Almost Minelli-like, she wades in and out of every scene just as La Vie En Rose meanders so adventurously and recklessly in and out of Piaf's life. Amazing.

Angelina Jolie
A Mighty Heart

As a woman chasing any trace of her kidnapped husband it isn't a feat that Jolie has us on Marianne's side. When we think of grieving widows, or housewives waiting, hoping, for their husbands to come home from war, it's easy to expect and see the desperate wreck. But we don't often see them as an active force in proceedings, and that might be why Jolie is so surprisingly effective as the core of A Mighty Heart. She is by no means better than the film, but without a shadow of a doubt understands every bit of the episode, carrying off her role with the passion of a heroine. And when I say 'heroine', I don't mean someone who's content to put a brave face on things, but someone keen to understand as much of the political situation as she can in order to bring her fella home. She wants it more than we do, and it shows. Jolie has so much impact as a personality than she ever has as a figure of pity; despite pregnancy, false hope, loss, the raw power she evokes is that of our superwoman beaten. Beaten admirably, but heartbreakingly beaten nonetheless.



Sienna Miller
Interview

I actually have trouble acknowledging that I value Sienna Miller's dogged, neurotic performance in Interview, a film I didn't care for, above Laura Linney, Anamaria Marinca, and the tireless Ellen Page. But this is the girl I wanted here most, and in all honesty, it's because I saw more of myself in her than I did the others. Judging and interpreting films is ultimately an altogether personal experience, and consequently Miller, whose Katya is restricted despite her power and independence; naive, shallow, but capable of duping even the most psychologically-apt of counterparts, feels more close-to-home and complex than the others. Outwardly confident and superior, inwardly self-conscious and needy, she teases, provokes, and ends up feeling like the real throwaway victim of a piece that doesn't know enough about what it wants to say, but crafts two characters that has enough to keep you entertained for the vast majority of its modest running time. Sienna can hack it with the best of them.

Tang Wei
Lust, Caution

Like Lust, Caution itself Tang Wei's role is a concealing contradiction. Complete with all the makings of the schoolgirl who has an affair with a high-school professor, she is a foxy female that veers far from the standard path through adolescence, and her double-role in this luscious sex-fest skates the boundary between girl and woman extremely finely. A wannabe-rebel and seductive spy she undergoes a transformation but retains that naive, ingestant childishness that feeds her need to mean something to someone. To matter. And when imposed upon by everybody Wei is able to let the resillience and individuality of Mai Tai Tai shine through. Her performance is assured, magnetic, mature, and often reminded me of Greer Garson, whose modesty was surely unrivalled, but given a run for its money by Wei, who like Garson, never really gives any indication that she knows how beautiful, clever, and charismatic she is, although there's an inkling that amidst it all the girl probably does.

Winner: Tang Wei, Lust Caution
Runner Up: Julie Christie, Away From Her

Sad To Exclude: The aforementioned ladies: Anamaria Marinca, Ellen Page, and the excellent Laura Linney, who I'd say is probably 6th, as she has a much weaker written character than the others.

Hottest Track: Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma

Addicts 2007: Actress in a Supporting Role

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Cate Blanchett
I'm Not There

Blanchett's gender-swapping role is indeed heavily gimmicky in nature, but I found her performance much more ingrained and valuable than a theatrical delve into masculinity. Dylan’s showy physical shtick (his ticks and false bravado) are part of his iconography, and it’s Blanchett’s job to be this impenetrable figure. Of the entire ensemble she is the name BOB DYLAN; the media play-thing, the token rebel, the asshole, and so her role can’t really be pigeon-holed as anything, and neither can she. The success of I’m Not There, and Blanchett herself, is solidified in that her creation doesn't come across as gender-specific, and I’m sure that the Bob Dylan of old wouldn’t acknowledge Blanchett’s version as either male or female (if indeed acknowledge it at all). That’s entirely the point of her performance, and she hammers it home admirably.

Juliet Ellis
It's A Free World...

The reluctant sidekick to Wareing's opportunisitic businesswoman, Rose acts as Angie's moral conscience. Although the two women are essentially a team Ellis knows when to allow Wareing the floor and how much of it to allow. Conservative by nature but a politically passive exponent of Loach's liberal politics, she tackles the flames of Wareing's fiery leading woman, yet shies away from being the superior disapproving friend too often. Ellis gives Rose the self-assurance and social awareness that marks her as a less volatile and desperate creature to her friend, and as a contrast, it helps to make It's a Free World... seem a more careful and ruminative piece than it otherwise might have become.

Jennifer Garner
Juno

We've already judged Garner two minutes into her performance. A suburban housewife who sees a baby as the must-have accessory for any bourgeois middle-class couple. But that's because it's what we want to see, and on a repeat viewing it's clear that she doesn't see the role of Vanessa in this way at all, really understanding her purpose in Juno's life. Perhaps guilty of being an obsessive, cautious pessimist Garner's Vanessa is uptight and nowhere close to being likeable. She has all of the environmental factors of a materialist but little of the character, and none of the nature. Backward in coming forward she quickly becomes one of the few non-judgemental characters in the film, and grows into someone worth your sympathy and attention. A performance that stays with you when all is said and done.

Eva Mendes
We Own The Night

Most films are keen to integrate their 'wronged woman' in a way of getting at their precious leading man, and his moral arc. Mendes has more than one opportunity to play her character this way, and, though she can vent her wrath with the best of them, never shies away from her own fragmented mess. In some ways she is blessed, because the film seems keen to give her some individuality, but amidst an airstrike of family politics and exhilarating detective chase she still embeds herself in your mind as the true dilemna of the film. The outsider looking into a world she knows little about.

Taken from my Supporting Actress Blogathon post

Tilda Swinton
Michael Clayton

It's to her incredible credit that Tilda Swinton's Karen Crowther veers so far from villainry 101, even in Michael Clayton's more routine moments. Villains are scarcely afforded a breakdown scene in a bathroom. After all, moments of inhibited weakness and vulnerability (excluding hangups about physical appearance) do not fit the 'cold bitch' stereotype. But Swinton re-fashions a hard-faced, ruthless businesswoman into someone bound by a system, acting on their capable but decidedly worn and unsteady feet. It's fascinating character work, and a rich injection into Michael Clayton's smart, slick, but cruisingly familiar setup. If only because she isn't the false, catty corporate representative that one has come to expect. It's a wonder then that her performance won her an Oscar -- the best performance in at least a decade to do so.

Winner: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Runner Up: Jennifer Garner - Juno

Sad to Exclude: Natalie Portman, who shines as a gambling addict in Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights. Saoirse Ronan's oscar-nominated turn in Atonement is mature, measured and hella effective. Vanessa Ferlito is the best of the Death Proof girls, and well worth the price of admission alone.

Hottest Track: The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

Butterfly On A Wheel (2007)

Directed by Mike Barker

Starring: Gerard Butler, Maria Bello, Pierce Brosnan

Grade: C -

Instead of the usual review I've chosen to show you an e-mail I sent to my friend about it. It's probably not gonna make any sense unless you've actually seen it though.

**Contains Spoilers**

Well...

After much wrestling with my BT hub (not physically - at least not yet!) I've managed to get online and write you this e-mail about 'Butterfly on a Wheel', a film that I didn't really care for - just thought I'd let you know that before I say what I didn't like about it. I'm totally in film review mode. Sorry! Lol.

Firstly, it surprised me how quickly the tone of the film changed. They hardly waited ten minutes to get the kidnap thing underway. I've been deliberating whether I liked this, but I think more intelligent films might have to tried to hint at the affair a bit more before it introduced that element. And if it did I didn't really notice. I'm not sure it's a good idea to make such a compact, energetic thriller that has a finale so dependent on the nature of the characters, and I don't like films that can't be bothered to develop its characters and then expect us to be shocked at their actions at the end.

I actually saw the whole thing coming, which is disappointing. When it became personal and not about the money there weren't really many ways the plot could have gone. It's much more engaging than I think it ever has a rite to be really, because a lot of it feels very tailored, which makes it uneven, and I've seen this kind of film done much, much better. Phone--> Empty box --> envelope --> red dress (and on that point, I'm sick of middle-class men in thrillers constantly being threatened with the murder and rape of their wife and daughter? It's so old.). And the worst of all. When he goes to the police and she's already been there. I mean, please! It seems to cover all of the "bases" but if we're going to make baseball analogies it's more a game of rounders in the park than a World Series Final. Old news.

Maria Bello, who by the way is lovely, was kinda meh. I think she just wasn't all that bothered about the film. It needed a performance like Jamie Lee Curtis' in True Lies to make it feel more raw and powerful. It felt too tame for me. Gerard Butler was slightly better... boy would I like to run into him in a dark alley! Actually, it'd be more fun if he ran into me ;-) Pierce is routine and boring - a perfect representative of the film actually (ooh, I'm catty!).

I've gotta say something about the end...

I really was SHOUTING at the screen "Don't kill that woman!". She was so much prettier than Maria Bello and surely better in bed. It would have been a shame. But yeah, when they got home I wanted to turn it off cause I knew they were gonna do that whole twist thing.

It's not a terrible film. I just think it's a bad attempt at a familiar picture, with very little incisiveness or appeal.