Dirty Pretty Things (2002) - Good performances anchor Frears' flawed, overrated illegal immigrant drama

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With the piquant title font style and the disrobed star Audrey Tautou under a saucy, mysterious tagline, the poster for Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things hikes up expectations with sex

A hotel receptionist from Africa and a cleaning lady from Turkey, who are both illegal immigrants in London, share their adversities with each other for a while.

Dirty Pretty Things is written by Steven Knight (Allied (2016)) and directed by English master filmmaker Stephen Frears (Gumshoe (1971)).
It is an overly celebrated film with several weak points in its script and portrayal of reality: Sophie Okonedo's (Father & Son (2009, miniseries)) African prostitute character is eloquent and above-it-all; and our hotel 'heroes'' Chinese friend let both of them stay at the morgue where he lives, simply because he is sweet. Besides these dubious instances there's the fact the Chiwetel Ejiofor's (Savannah (2013)) Okwe character is a for me unacceptable hero, because he has fled from his own daughter in Nigeria, basically to live more comfortably in Europe.
What makes Dirty Pretty Things worthwhile anyway are the good performances from Ejiofor and Audrey Tautou (Happy End (2003)), and in supporting parts Zlatko Buric (Iqbal & den Hemmelige Opskrift (2015)) and Sergi López (The Boat Race (2009)).
The story is perplexing, and meant to be so, but it deflates when probed. It runs with a clichéd feeling of pity for economical migrants and refugees, but that view could also easily be subverted by the findings in Dirty Pretty Things: The film could also be taken to say something along the lines of; 'don't become an illegal immigrant in the first place, as they are only humiliated and degraded', (the message to the non-Westerner), and to the West; 'keep illegal immigrants out; they attract exploitative bastards and give rise to tragedies, sad destinies and a disbandment of the union of the established society'.

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Philomena (2013) - Dench astounds in Frears' powerful true-story drama

Watch a scene from the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 13.9 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.39 times its cost)
[Dirty Pretty Things premiered 5 September (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in the UK, including London. The film opened #36 to a 100k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and in 493 theaters (different weeks), grossing 8.1 mil. $ (58.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.3 mil. $ (9.4 %) and the UK with 852k $ (6.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, lost to Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, won 4/7 British Independent Spirit award nominations, was nominated for 6 European Film awards, won 2 National Board of Review awards, an award in Venice and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Frears returned with The Deal (2003, TV movie), The Route V50 (2004, short) and theatrically with Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005). Tautou returned in Lost Seamen/Les Marins Perdus (2003). Dirty Pretty Things is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.83/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dirty Pretty Things?

Salt (2010) - Engaged Jolie in Noyce's lacking actioner

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Star Angelina Jolie poses with a gun and makes 'sexy face' on this poster for Phillip Noyce's Salt

CIA agent Evelyn Salt is accused by a defected Russian spy of being a Russian agent...!

Salt is written by Kurt Wimmer (Relative Fear (1994)) and directed by Phillip Noyce (Good Afternoon (1971)).
It is a simple cat-and-mouse type action chase thriller, made with clear role-models in the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises. But it has neither the fun and exciting characters nor the seriously wild action of those films.
Angelina Jolie (Beyond Borders (2003)) does well in the physically demanding title role, but the plot is thin and not spectacular enough. Salt is a film that thunders away to regrettably little effect.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 293.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.66 times its cost)
[Salt premiered 19 July (Hollywood, California) and runs 104 minutes. The script was in the works since 2002, with Tom Cruise in mind to star since 2007. He turned down the offer, as the role was thought too similar to his M:I character Ethan Hunt. The script was rewritten to suit Jolie, who did a mass of stunts for the film shortly after having birthed twins. Shooting took place in New York, Washington DC and in Russia from March - June 2009, with reshoots from December - January 2010. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Inception, to a 36 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#3-#4) and grossed 118.3 mil. $ (40.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 23.5 mil. $ (8 %) and South Korea with 18.2 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Sound Mixing Oscar, lost to Inception. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches better than this one. Despite the film's success, sequel plans have not come together. Noyce returned with 5 TV credits and a short before his next theatrical feature The Giver (2014). Jolie returned in Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010, short) and theatrically in The Tourist (2010). Salt is fresh at 62 % with a 5.99/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Salt?

Children of Men (2006) - Cuarón's multi-faceted, great sci-fi offering

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+ Best Sci-fi Movie of the Year

One hooking poster for Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men

QUICK REVIEW:

2027: The world development has stagnated. No new babies have been born for 18 years, when a refugee in England turns up pregnant. Surrounded by desperate fanaticism, the job of protecting her is both difficult and potentially lethal.

I was hesitant of this existential sci-fi drama thriller for a while due to the polemical core of the dystopia it presents. But once the story really kicks in, I got very invested in the film, which is compelling and has the feeling of importance. It is an adaptation of a 1992 novel of the same name by English female writer P.D. James (A Taste for Death (1986)) by great Mexican co-writer/director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También (2001)), Timothy J. Sexton (Cesar Chavez (2014)), David Arata (Spy Game (2001)) and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Iron Man (2008)), who were Oscar-nominated for their script.
Cuarón and his Oscar-nominated, great, regular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's (Y Tu Mamá También) photographic concept of many long, vivacious single shots is dynamic and very impressive. It also fuels the film with a highly convincing realism.
Children of Men is a thought-provoking and remarkable movie with lots of strong images. Hard-to-forget and in sci-fi terms a big step better than Cuarón's later, much more acclaimed and commercially successful space opera Gravity (2013).

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Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 76 mil. $
Box office: 69.9 mil. $
= Big flop
[While the dark yet hope-infused UK/US co-production failed to set the ticket booths on fire, it was recognized by critics and sci-fi fans as an extraordinary film and even one of the decade's best: According to Metacritic's survey, the film is placed as the 11th best of the 2000's as ranked on critics' lists. It was also Oscar-nominated for its editing (3 nominations in all), and won a bunch of other awards. It made 35.5 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of Children of Men?
How would you like to see Cuarón tackle another big, smart, edgy sci-fi movie?

12 Years a Slave (2013) - The inhumanity of slavery captured in powerful film

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+ Best Movie of the Year
+ Best American Movie of the Year 

The poster for Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave

Free African American Solomon Northrup, a distinguished violin player and family man, is kidnapped in Washington D.C. in 1841 and sold into terrible slavery in Louisiana which comes to last for 12 long years. 

 
It is the first truly incredible film by London-borne director Steve McQueen, who has previously made the two features, Hunger (2008), a barely watchable film about a hunger strike in a prison, and Shame (2011) a good movie about a New York City sex addict and his sister, - and a bunch of short films.
John Ridley (Red Tails (2012)) is responsible for the adaptation of Northup's autobiographical account of his trials as a Southern slave.
McQueen's keen eye for the physically reprehensible culminates with a great - and greatly engaging - story that unfolds in a fine, always forward-moving pace that still affords itself to linger at details and important events. McQueen is not an American filmmaker, and even in this, his most awarded American film to date, he succeeds in a pacing and explicitness that seems decidedly European. - Furthermore, he never succumbs to sentimentality or falsity, and his film stands taller for it.
The film still feels very American; partly due to its cast that seamlessly portray their subjects, and partly due to its score, a marvelously blended mix of folk and work songs and Hans Zimmer's powerful, emoting score that bursts the already blood-whipped hearts of most audiences. Its percussion underscore the perversity of the slavery system, while the theme's strings put us in the tortured place of Nerthup and his fellow slaves. The catharsis is strong throughout different sections, and there is a strong sense of inevitability about the story, but the plot is so filled with despicable things that the catharsis don't cleanse so much as illuminate and bring despair. - At least I felt some despair after the strong experience of watching 12 Years a Slave, as I thought of all the places in the world where slavery is still prevalent.

12 Years a Slave presents an impressive array of bad guys. Most all of the white stars of the film portray terrible characters, barring Brad Pitt, who also co-produced the film.
But; Paul Giamatti is a rotten buffoon (in one really good, awful scene); Paul Dano is an ass; Benedict Cumberbatch is all wrong; Sarah Paulson is a mean woman; and Michael Fassbender (in his third McQueen-film) is, as most will already know, the worst; sadistic, zealous and highly dangerous.

Aside from all of these, who all give fine performances, the film also has great people in even the smallest parts, and in the most significant supporting role, Lupita Nyong'o (Non-Stop (2014)) breaks our hearts as the hardworking slave-girl Patsey, who endures her master's very awful, special attention. Nyong'o's performance is one for the ages; remembering her character, many will forever feel a sting in their hearts.
In the lead, Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster (2007)) is intense and unflinching in his singular portrait, brave and honest.
The beautiful scenery of the often relentless South - filmed in New Orleans, close to the actual plantation that Northup was enslaved in, - is beautifully rendered by cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)). A few of the takes are especially impressive; the realism is simultaneously stunning and grueling.
12 Years a Slave is a monumental film that deserves to be seen by as many as possible; an incredible story of human sacrifice and endurance, and a truly enlightening story of slavery in America.

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Watch the trailer for the movie of the year, 12 Years a Slave

Budget: 18 mil. $
Box office: 187.7 mil. $
= Huge hit

What do you think of 12 Years a Slave?