Here are a couple of movies which I watched during the last few days of 2004 and the 1st week of 2005...
In truth, I only caught HALF of Ocean's Eleven on tv AFTER I watched it's much-hyped about sequel, Ocean's Twelve at the cinemas and thus it could, very much, have spoiled my enjoyment of the latter. However, a cursory comparison between both movies would have me conclude that Ocean's Twelve tries much too hard to be witty and clever to be really as entertaining as its predecessor. Instead, its strength lies in the chemistry and delivery of its charismatic leads, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones (who steals every scene she's in with ease). The plot, I think, is a little convoluted and some of the characters have been pushed so much to the sidelines that its almost sad really. It also helps if you've watched Ocean's Eleven before catching the sequel. my ratings ---- 3.5/5 stars!
The original Japanese title reads "Dare mo shiranai" and it's directed by the acclaimed Hirokazu Koreeda, who has been nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival twice in less than five years. Based on actual events which happened in Japan, Nobody Knows tells the story of a family of four children who have to fend for themselves and maintain a semblance of life when their irresponsible mother left them to live with her new-found boyfriend. What's really amazing about this film is its stark and matter-of-fact delivery of its characters, which is almost reminiscent of Majid Majidi's films. The child actors are of course, too cute to be true and there is a palpable sense of imminent doom right from the start but Koreeda does not employ cheap melodramatics to elicit sympathy from the audience. It gets a little too draggy somewhere near the end (when things just get abit too sad) but rest assured it's all ticket-money well-spent. Twelve-year old Yuya Yagira won the coveted Best Actor at Cannes for his role as the eldest child and not without good reason. My ratings ---- 4.3/5 stars!!!
