John Moores Movie Reviews

The Counterfeiters
A German language film -nominated for an Oscar- depicting the true story of the world’s largest counterfeiting operation run by the Nazi’s during the Second World War. The forgers were Jewish prisoners who all had backgrounds in banking, printing, graphics or counterfeiting including Solomon Sorowitsch around whom the film is framed. Soly, the ultimate “keep your head down and survive the war” pragmatist faces off against young idealist Adolph Burger who would rather risk execution if he can stall the Nazi’s in their efforts to buy war supplies with fake currency. A brutal and beautiful film similar to The Pianist in tone. Not exactly a date move mind you.

Jumper
Hayden Christianson stars in this handsome but empty film about a callow young guy who can travel any distance in seconds. Using money stolen from inside bank vaults his typical day involves bedding a woman in London, surfing in Bali, having lunch amongst the pyramids and heading home for a nap. This idyllic but empty existence comes to an end when a band of uber religious guys try to kill him for being an abomination before God. Yeah, you get it… another comic book universe where people with super powers don’t quite fit in and have mortal enemies. The mythology of the jumpers (there are many) seems hastily improvised as does the back story of their would be killers. At least in X-Men you understand what drives the bad mutants.

Up the Yangtze
A lyrical and alternately touching and depressing documentary about the young people who work on riverboats along China’s Yangtze River shot just before the gates of the Three Gorges Damn were sealed flooding enormous parts of China. A young girl from a peasant family toils away in a boat’s kitchen while a cocky middle class boy tries to coax tips out of wealthy foreign travelers. This Canadian film paints an intimate and unforced portrait of Chinese day to day life; a look at a people who are sacrificing their country’s natural beauty and the hopes of generations with the intention that in the long run it will be good for the country.

Charlie Wilson’s War
A movie that careens between a fabulous adventure and a didactic liberal lecture on foreign policy. It is saved by the performances of Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hanks plays a real life Congressman who stopped philandering and drinking long enough to push legislators into funding Afghan rebels in their efforts to chase Soviet occupiers out of the country. The unfortunate reality that this plot resulted in the Taliban is blamed on the fact that Charlie wanted money to build schools and hospitals but the U.S. government lost interest. West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin’s finger prints are all over this film which would explain why it’s witty and stylish but politically naïve.
 
The Kite Runner
Better than the book in my opinion but the second half of the book bored me. A very loyal adaptation featuring some tremendous young actors. Tells the story of a young upper class Afghan boy and his life long heart ache over his abuse of his best friend, an impoverished servant. Stark, sweet, well told and lovingly shot, this movie doesn’t hit all the epic gongs enough to be as big a hit as the book but it is worth seeing.

There Will Be Blood
Daniel day Lewis chews the scenery and even some of his fellow actors as an oil man in the earliest days of oil. Paul Dano struggles to keep up in the role of a preacher whose influence and self delusion grow with every dollar of oil that is pumped from the ground. A ham-fisted parable about commerce and religion this movie works if you feel like spending two and a half hours with two of the most awful people on earth. It works as a study in acting, a history lesson about oil prospecting and a manual for direction and photography but it’s not exactly fun to watch.

No Country for Old Men
In my view the best movie of the year but a very tough film to watch. The Coen brothers hallmark is being anti Hollywood. Where the average studio film tells you who’s good and who’s bad, who will live and who will die in this movie the directors take away the road map and throw you into a completely unpredictable universe where even the nicest woman could be liquidated. Javier Bardem plays an almost mute baddie who dispatches people with a pneumatic gun normally used in a slaughter house. Josh Borlin is a youngish guy who finds a duffle bag full of cash from a drug deal gone bad and thinks nothing could possibly go wrong if he hits the road with it. Tommy Lee Jones is the sheriff who realizes there’s no point in trying to stop bad people from doing bad things. If you liked Fargo, this is a darker variation on the same themes.

Michael Clayton
George Clooney stars in a dark drama about a “fixer” who works at an elite law firm. He’s sent on the road to rescue one of the firms top lawyers who has suffered a psychotic breakdown. The client is a chemical conglomerate willing to stop at nothing to settle a class action suit filed on behalf of people sickened and killed by one of its products. Less opaque than Clooney’s last thriller Syriana, this film is more character driver and packs a killer ending.

Across the Universe
Julie Taymor strings together a lush and fanciful series of videos set to Beatles music but this Dr. Pepper style treatment of the sixties seems exploitative. Great performances, terrific singing and some cracker jack art direction but what’s the point?

Shake Hands with the Devil
The story of Romeo Dallaire’s tour of duty in Rwanda. If you’ve read the book, seen the doc or seen Hotel Rwanda it will seem like covering old territory. Roy Dupuis is remarkable but there’s something too goofily Canadian about this. You keep expecting them to cut away to an episode of Street legal or a profile on the prairie ground hog.