DVD: Saint (Sint) (dir: Dick Maas, 2010)

"What else rhymes with 'luck'?"

At last, a seasonal slasher to rival Silent Night, Deadly Night!  Dick Maas (Amsterdamned, The Lift) writes and directs this gleefully old-school Dutch horror which unashamedly plunders John Carpenter's early back catalogue (notably The Fog and Halloween), plays it straight and is a lot of fun.  As the old evil Saint Nicholas returns with his helpers to kidnap and terrorise whenever a full moon rises on December 5th, festively snowy Amsterdam is the setting for a policeman to take revenge on his family being killed by 'Santa' in the 1960s, joined by the hapless student Frank, an enjoyable lead performance by Egbert Jan Weeber.  With four deliriously-realised set pieces (the rooftop chase is a highlight) and some well-executed gore, Saint is an utterly daft and very enjoyable yuletide romp for horror fans.

DVD: Rare Exports - A Christmas Tale (dir: Jalmari Helander, 2010)

"That's the message of Christmas!"

This curious little Finnish film has lots of ambition, telling the story of an archaeological dig that unearths the entombed ancient 'bad' Santa in the run-up to Christmas in an isolated outpost.  The film builds slowly and carefully, and it is very precisely plotted which pays off beautifully in the latter stages in a manner of an old Twilight Zone episode.   At its heart is a bleak and honest single-parent father-son relationship that is well-played and evokes Spielberg, which is put to the test as the strange events unfold.  Like Troll Hunter, legend is extrapolated into fact, and the action builds to an unexpectedly large-scale climax and a clever coda.  Rare Exports is a small film that is well-made and presents an unusual and interesting festive tale.

FILM: 50/50 (dir: Jonathan Levine, 2011)

"Makes you kind of a d*ck."
"Is that, like, a medical term?"

The shortcut reviews of 50/50 claim it is a 'cancer comedy', but the humour is only one aspect of this wonderful film.  By turns harrowing, heartbreaking, joyous and - yes - very funny, the film is just as concerned with the young man who develops a rare form of spinal cancer as it is with the people around him.  50/50 is without doubt Joseph Gordon-Levitt's film (amazingly a short-notice replacement), giving yet another immensely credible and considered performance that marks him out as one of the very best actors of his generation, yet there are many fine performances on display to enjoy: Seth Rogen underplays beautifully and offers fine support as the best friend, Anjelica Huston (curiously underused here) does the Shirley MacLaine-mother-role most effectively, Anna Kendrick is delightful as the naive care worker, and even Bryce Dallas-Howard as the girlfriend's initially seemingly-overplayed characterisation makes perfect sense as her character arc develops.  There is a tendency to resort to cliche at times, which is perhaps unavoidable in the life-threatening-illness genre, from the insipid indie-styled soundtrack to predictable visuals (the close-up chemo drip with a rainy window pane in the background is a standout), but the characters at no point feel false or forced.  Inspired by the writer's own true story and his friendship with Rogen, 50/50 takes the viewer on quite an emotional journey and provides much to admire all round.

FILM: The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part 1 (dir: Bill Condon, 2011)

"You have to accept what it is."

With its core cast intact, the Twilight franchise enters the home straight and finally grows up...a little.  As the saga's story breaks new territory with the wedding, the honeymoon and Bella's accelerated pregnancy, Bill Condon's direction is reliably assured (and even manages to get in a nice Bride of Frankenstein reference), but unfortunately the combination of a relentlessly soporific soundtrack and a heavy-handed script (which could use some serious editing) robs the film of much of its potential dramatic tension, leaving a lot of flat melodrama in its wake.  Some of the humour works well - Jacob's reaction to Bella's female baby-name suggestion is priceless - but there are also many unintended laughs as well.  Pattinson and Lautner remain adequate in their limited roles, but this time out Pattinson shows some genuine moments of tenderness in the relationship with Bella, and Lautner manages more than merely looking puzzled.  The surprising revelation in Breaking Dawn Part 1 is Kristen Stewart, who - from the outset - gives a less restrained and more mature performance which makes Bella a much more engaging character than in the previous films.  Nevertheless, the final showdown comes across well, and the infamous birth scene is handled effectively, but overall this installment is a step back from the action and darker tone which made Eclipse more enjoyable for non-fans.  A thought to consider: as directors, would Bill Condon's style have been more suited to the original Twilight film, and Catherine Hardwicke to Breaking Dawn Part 1?

FILM: Arthur Christmas 3D (dir: Sarah Smith, 2011)

"You bring a genuine aura of seasonal positivity."

Largely thanks to James McAvoy's quite brilliant voicework and the accompanying animation of the awkward, naive and joyous title character, Arthur Christmas is an absolute delight from start to finish.  It starts off at a blistering pace, and the story flits betweeen quite demented silliness and touching moments with confidence and spirit.  Nods to other movies come thick and fast, including the wonderful visual conceit of Santa's latest sleigh resembling a cross between Star Trek's Enterprise and the ships from Independence Day.  The 3D is used to convey a terrific sense of space and scale, and visually the film is frequently beautiful.  It was interesting to note that adults in the audience were laughing more than the children, and this was probably largely owing to the fully-realised screenplay and the sheer pace of the story.  Arthur Christmas is packed with ideas, inventively realised and hugely enjoyable.

FILM: Immortals 3D (dir: Tarsem Singh, 2011)

"Witness Hell!"

Immortals is very clearly a Tarsem Singh film - at times it does look like the cast of 300 has wandered into the more out-there scenes in The Cell - and as a result it is visually interesting, dramatically flat (it lurches rather than flows) and remarkably tedious.  Delivery of dialogue is generally painfully low-key in spite of a number of good performances: Mickey Rourke has real presence as the bad guy; Frieda Pinto provides rare and surprising moments of warmth; Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Kellan Lutz and Joseph Morgan provide more-than-adequate support; and Henry Cavill is a stoic and committed lead.  Thankfully, the film delivers a lively (and squelchy) final showdown, but Immortals is definitely a case of artistry over entertainment.

FILM: In Time (Dir: Andrew Niccol, 2011)

"Was I going too fast?"
"Not fast enough."

In a reverse Logan's Run conceit, the core narrative idea that everyone stops ageing at 25 but have to earn or buy time is simple but works well, providing in-built tension through numerous countdowns and the giving-taking of time to stay alive.  However, this is tied to a timely anti-capitalist metaphor which - whilst uncomfortable and thought-provoking - proves a little too fuzzy, as Niccol's controlled style provides beautifully-composed shots but smooths out any real edge, particularly with respect to the antagonists.  Timberlake and Seyfried both do a lot of good work in this movie, but there are also noteworthy performances by Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and - shaking off his sit-com day-job's one-note turn - Johnny Galecki showing what a nuanced actor he can be.  Craig Armstrong provides a glorious soundtrack (that at times wonderfully echoes Vangelis's Blade Runner score), and there are some good (if brief) action sequences amongst the somewhat stagey duologue scenes.  In Time is generally worthy, well-made and entertaining, but it lacks the spark to let it really take off.

FILM: Tower Heist (dir: Brett Ratner, 2011)

"The maid's gone rogue!"

Unusually for a vehicle with such big stars, Tower Heist came in under the radar and turns out to be a fairly entertaining if rather underwhelming comedy.  For two-thirds of its running time, Tower Heist proves inconsistent, with occasionally successful humour and achieving varying levels of piquing audience interest, but the actual heist has many wonderfully daft and ridiculous moments with a bold and successful final pay-off.  The eclectic cast gels well, with Stiller playing a good 'straight man' and Murphy almost being let off the leash and showing flashes of his old style.  At its heart, Tower Height seems to want to be a joyous 1960s-style crime-comedy caper, but director Ratner and the script both lack the lightness of touch and the consistent flow that the film would need to achieve that.

FILM: Contagion (dir: Steven Soderbergh, 2011)

"Blogging is not writing - it's graffiti with punctuation."

Contagion takes  the well-worn pandemic scenario and presents it in a cool, compelling and matter-of-fact way, taking the viewer on a hard-hitting and credible journey pieced together from a variety of angles.  Director Soderbergh (at times seeming to channel Fincher) deftly juxtaposes the growing global medical and social crises with the way it isolates everyone from  individuals' fear of others to the lonely task of the scientists trying to find a solution, making the developing story both frightening and heartbreaking.  The starry ensemble cast is uniformly great, making Contagion a relentlessly grim but wonderfully-executed movie.