Holly Grigg-Spall

Although this movie will be spoken of generally as “the one Heath Ledger was making when he died,” the latest work from the director of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam, is not exactly a Heath Ledger movie. He's hardly in it. And while it's natural to eagerly await the scenes in which he appears – as attractive and talented as he was – to do so while watching The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus would be a waste.
If you want some pure, unadulterated Heath Ledger, watch Brokeback Mountain or I'm Not There. Equally, do not expect to see much of the three actors who stepped in for Ledger: Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, as their scenes amount to about 20 minutes. Instead, go see this one because it's made by an interesting writer-director whose mix of substance and style is consistently daring and thought provoking.

In this sure-fire Oscar contender, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man hired by companies to fire their employees. Or rather George Clooney plays George Clooney as a man criss-crossing the country to let people go in the smoothest and easiest way possible. The film begins, and ends, with a collage of actors and non-actors responding to being told that their position is no longer available. Clooney breaks the news, takes their abuse and then offers consolation with platitudes about the possibilities that await them once they cast off the chains of full-time employment.
Some ask in exasperation, who are you? To which, we always expect him to reply, “I'm the movie star George Clooney and I'll be using all the winking, side-smiling and head-tilting charm I've got to make you feel a whole lot better about the economic recession.” And this actually works for the full run time, plus an hour or so.

Not often these days do we get a real “event” movie, as they are known in the business. Event movies are those that fill the theaters, provoke months of build up, endless post-viewing debate and are remembered years later. Titanic was an event movie. Most of us, even those only passively plugged into mainstream culture, will have a small folder in our minds dedicated to Leo-mania.
For all director James Cameron's assumed arrogance, he clearly understands the basics of good PR. When you pitch ideas with not just big, but record-breaking budgets, the sell means much more than the script. The frenzied build up to the release of his over a decade-in-the-making project Avatar assured, at the least, a successful opening weekend and, therefore, the money to fund his next venture. This is the kind of movie people want to have an opinion on, and it doesn't matter to Cameron whether that opinion is positive or negative as long as they care enough to pay for a ticket or two.

The Damned United is the well-told true story of the rapid rise and crashing fall of Brian Clough, English soccer manager, whose disastrous 44-day stint with top team Leeds United was mythologized by novelist David Peace in his 2006 book of the same title. For many, this one man's life may at first seem a rather small slice of 1970s history, but director Tom Hooper and actor Michael Sheen combine forces to present an expertly executed and involving tale of ambition, ego and self-destruction that has far-reaching appeal. This was a time before David Beckham, when footballers were idolized but a long way from becoming brands, when a player commanded a salary of only $500 a week.

Here is a good idea for a movie: After serving his stint on the Iraq frontline, an American soldier is assigned to work in casualty notification and alongside a struggling alcoholic partner he appears on the doorstep of the mothers, fathers and spouses of the dead to offer the apologies of the Secretary of the Army. The relatives react, but the soldiers are supposed to keep to the script and then walk away.
The Messenger must have looked great on paper, good enough to attract an impressive cast including Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton and Steve Buscemi who saw the potential of this previously untold story. The film, however, never gets off that paper, remaining as a series of annotations on this good idea. The scenes are held together sketchily with far too much in the margins. It could be a New Yorker article, but it never quite makes it on celluloid.

In a world of Jessica Rabbits and Disney princesses, a world in which female audiences are largely ignored in the attractive animated characters department, Wes Anderson has not only provided a charming, roguish and sharply dressed fox voiced by George Clooney but in creating this creature the director overtly references the first cartoon crush of many, the handsome fox of 1973 Disney movie, Robin Hood. An adaptation of the short story by Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox incorporates the love theme music from the Disney film, along with the rambunctious, playful attitude of the Merry Men.

There were two movies at the theater this weekend portraying the experiences of teenage girls as they navigate the territory between girlishness and womanhood. One of these films claimed teenage girls to be the powerless victims of men's will and lust. That would be the other film reviewed on this page, the latest installment of the Twilight saga, New Moon.
The other film is one of the best of the year and gives teenage girls a space and respect they're rarely allowed. An Education is encouraging and supportive, centering on Jenny – a strong, rounded, complex character who makes decisions that have realistic consequences. It's a refreshing and heartening film, and by its mere existence questions the usually harsh treatment of young women in film. It also makes the bold claim that their minds are more important than their bodies, but if they want to have a bit of fun they don't have to be ruined. Jenny is not the mere facilitator of some man's fulfilled destiny, but the architect of her own.

The theory behind Roland Emmerich's latest disaster movie is vaguely interesting. According to the Mayan calendar (gee, that looks so stupid in writing) the world will end in the year 2012. A frighteningly large number of people actually believe this and are busy preparing for the fire, flood and all. An equally vast contingent of people of the New Age variety believe 2012 will bring a shift in consciousness, and we will all get along together in a more friendly way forever after.
In a few years time something will happen because people believe it will – be that mass suicides, or mass yoga practices. The level of intrigue for most of us is probably on a par with our interest in who wins American Idol. 2012, however, is such a nothing nothingness of a film that it should be consigned to a pile marked “unreviewable,” so there's little to say in the face of all its tired old silliness.